


Dead on my Feet

by varroshabits



Category: Southern Vampire Mysteries - Charlaine Harris, True Blood (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:07:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26009266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/varroshabits/pseuds/varroshabits
Summary: A retelling of Dead to the World with a smarter, more reasonable Sookie and a very different ending.
Relationships: Eric Northman/Sookie Stackhouse
Comments: 36
Kudos: 178





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to Charlaine Harris, I'm just playing with them. This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, so hopefully it goes well.

After I finally finished sweeping up confetti (whose horrible idea was that?) wiping tables and refilling the salt and pepper shakers, I was practically dead on my feet. I was looking forward to a shower and crawling into bed. Arlene and Holly had already left; their areas were supposedly less disastrous than mine. I suspected they really just wanted to go home and celebrate what was left of New Year’s Eve with their current men. I guess I needed the bigger paycheck more than they did. Besides, it’s not like I had someone waiting at home for me. Although I’d had a relationship with Bon Temps’ resident vampire Bill for awhile, my disability makes dating nearly impossible. See, I can’t hear vampire thoughts for some reason, unlike human men whose thoughts are very clear. Shifters and Weres are harder to read, but I can still pick up some of their thoughts, especially if there’s touching involved or if they’re thinking directly at me. Would you want to date someone when you knew they were thinking of someone else, or wished that your tummy was flatter, or something like that? I didn’t think so. I can’t fault people for their thoughts, but that doesn’t mean I could subject myself to that. Nobody wanted to date me anyway- trying to sort out all the thoughts thrown at me versus what people were actually saying had earned me the nick-name “Crazy Sookie.”  
I went back to Sam’s office to grab my purse and say goodbye. He was sitting behind his desk, his red-gold hair a wild halo around his head, like he’d been running his fingers through it. He looked up when I walked in.  


“Hey Sook. You heading out?”  


“Yup, it’s all cleaned up and ready for tomorrow.”  


“Thanks, cher. You’re a life saver.”  


I reached into his bottom desk drawer to grab my purse and he stood up.  


“Well, Happy New Year. Here’s to a new beginning, and a better, safer year.” His eyes narrowed on the word “safer” as though I had no idea what he meant. To Sam, safe meant no vampires. In his defense, some really awful things had happened to me that wouldn’t have prior to getting involved in the supernatural world. But then, Sam isn’t all human himself. Sometimes he turns into an adorable collie that I call Dean. When I first met him in his canine form, I hadn’t known it was him and had given him that name. Now he sometimes visits during the full moon and I can’t bring myself to call the dog Sam.  


I raised an imaginary glass. “Here’s to not getting beaten up or shot at this year,” I said with a laugh.  


“I’ll cheers to that,” he replied and “clinked” our imaginary glasses together.  


“Goodnight Sam.” I gave him a quick hug and headed out the door.

The drive home was surprisingly peaceful. The bars had all closed at least an hour ago so the drunks were already off the roads- at least going my direction. When I pulled onto my winding driveway I could practically hear my bed calling my name. I was excited to sleep in and just have a relaxing day off. Sam never makes us work the day after a big drinking holiday if we’d worked the day (or night) of.  


When I pulled up to my house, my good spirits immediately dropped. The lights were on and I know I turned them off before I left. Someone was in my house.  
I reached out with my extra sense to see if it was a friend or foe. I discovered two voids. Well, at least it was someone I knew since vampires can’t enter a home without an invitation. The friend or foe part was still debatable and depended on the day.  


I walked in through the back door and followed the voids into my living room. Pam was sitting on Gran’s old arm chair surveying the room and Eric was sitting on the floor in front of her looking scared, confused, and completely un Eric-like.  


“Hey guys, make yourselves at home,” I muttered.  


“We don’t have time for any of your sarcastic bullshit,” Pam snapped, standing up.  


“How did you get in anyway?”  


Pam threw the spare key at me and I caught it without even trying. Apparently Eric’s blood from Jackson hadn’t worn off yet.  


All I got from Pam was a raised eyebrow and a suggestion to come up with a better hiding place.  


“Alright, so what’s going on?” I asked. There were two unexpected vampires in my house, I had a right to be curious.  


“I need you to hide Eric.”  


“Excuse me?!”  


“He pissed off a witch and he needs a place to hide.”  


I looked down at Eric and his eyes were ping-ponging between Pam and me.  


“Why me?”  


Her eyes narrowed. “You have a ‘hidey hole’ he can sleep in and nobody will think to look for him here.”  


“What exactly am I hiding him from? Not that I’m agreeing to this, mind you.”  


Pam gave me the Reader’s Digest version of the story. Apparently a witch had come into the bar and demanded 50 percent of their profits, to which Eric had unsurprisingly told her to screw off (less politely, I’m sure.) She left and they thought it was over. However, she came back the next day with more witches and demanded 60 percent. When he again told her no, she threatened to make his life hell. She said they would taint the drinks so customers got sick, put a hex on the dance floor so people would get hurt and sue, a myriad of other things that would cause them to lose money and eventually the bar would shut down for lack of patrons and profits. Chow lost his temper and attacked one of the witches and Eric disappeared.  


“Like, poof- magic, disappeared?” I asked, incredulous.  


“Yes,” she responded dryly. “Poof.”  


Pam had followed her blood tie to Eric as her maker and discovered him sitting on my porch, clueless to how he got there or who either of them were. She’d done her best to piece the situation together, but what it boiled down to was Eric had no memory of anything prior to appearing on my porch and Pam was determined to find the witches and fix him.  


“Well what am I supposed to do if they come here? I don’t know how to fight a witch. Besides, what if I make the situation worse? And need I mention, I never agreed to hide him!”  


“They won’t come here.” Pam promised, ignoring the rest of my outburst. “But call me if they start sniffing around.”  


She took my phone and programmed her number into it, then announced that she was leaving.  


“Be well, Master. I will avenge you.” Pam put her fist over her heart and bowed to him, then vamped out of the house, leaving me alone with a 6 foot 5 Viking vampire who I was somehow supposed to protect. I looked at Eric sitting on the floor of my living room, or at least what was the shell of Eric. His face looked lost, innocent, afraid. Normally Eric is the most obnoxiously self-assured, confident asshole I’d ever met. Seeing him like this was jarring.  


“So…”  


He looked up at me.  


“Are you hungry?”  


His eyes lit up.  


“I’m not offering myself!” I rushed out. “But I’ve got some True Blood in the fridge if you want one.”  


He looked confused and I couldn’t believe that I found myself explaining that True Blood was a synthetic bottled blood developed by the Japanese originally intended for medical purposes, but it had allowed vampires to “come out of the coffin” and walk among the rest of us.  
I went into the kitchen and microwaved a bottle for him and shook it to avoid any uneven temperature spots, handed it to him, then sat on the couch facing him in his spot on the floor.  
He looked at the bottle of blood, a skeptical look on his face.  


“It’s supposed to meet all your nutritional needs,” I said with a shrug.  


He took a sip and grimaced. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vampire show so much emotion. Usually their features are very controlled.  


“That is vile.”  


“I think you normally drink from fang bangers,” I said apologetically.  


“Fang bangers?” His accent was thicker than I was used to hearing as he tried out this unfamiliar phrase. Fortunately, whatever memory wiping curse had befallen him, he’d retained his ability to speak English. We’d be in a mess of trouble (more than we were already in) if he could only speak what was probably a long dead language.  


“Yeah, do you remember your bar, Fangtasia?”  


He shook his head.  


“You and Pam own it together. I guess that’s where that witch came? Well there’s a lot of men and women that go there hoping to bed and be bitten by a vampire. People call them fang bangers.”  


“What’s your name, woman?” he inched closer to me.  


“Sookie. Sookie Stackhouse. You really don’t remember me?”  


He shook his head and again scooted closer.  


I was beginning to feel a little like a gazelle facing down a lion. A confused gazelle. Eric and I have a complicated history. We’ve kissed (and then some) a few times, and he’d admitted that his goal was to have sex with me. He is hands down the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. But he was starting to look at me predatorily.  


“Are you a fang banger, Sookie Stackhouse?”  


I snorted. I couldn’t help it. “No. If I wasn’t a telepath I probably would never have gotten mixed up with y’all.”  
Just then he closed the distance between us faster than I could follow. He loomed over me, his eyes boring into mine. I instinctively backed up, though I didn’t make it far since I was on the couch.  


“You can read my mind?” His eyes were fiery and terrifying. I’d seen Eric fight before, but he’d never directed that look at me.  


“No! Only humans!” I blurted. “And shifters, but they’re hard to read.”  


His face relaxed. “That is good.” Then he leaned his face into my neck and inhaled. I felt my pulse quicken and heard the snick of his fangs as they descended.  


“You smell delicious,” he growled, and placed his mouth to my neck.  


“Please don’t eat me Eric.” I hated the weakness in my voice, but I was way past confused gazelle and fully into the territory of I need to run but can’t gazelle. He had me pinned to the back of the couch holding my arms down, straddling my legs. It was terrifying.  


Suddenly he jumped back, freeing me, and retracted his fangs.  


“You are afraid of me.”  


“Well, not normally, but you were about to eat me.”  


“I apologize.” He actually looked sincere and cast his eyes to the ground. Then they flicked back up at me with surprise. “I felt your fear. You’ve had my blood.”  


I nodded. I’ve had Eric’s blood a few times. Once, he shielded me from gun fire and explosions with his body and I’d sucked a bullet out of his chest. Most recently, I’d had a lot of his blood to heal after I’d gotten staked by a fanatic aiming for a high ranking vampire.  


“Are we lovers?” he looked hopeful.  


“No, although not for lack of trying on your part.” I found myself smiling, thinking of the real Eric. He was devious, but fun and flirty. I always knew where I stood with him. This new Eric was completely unpredictable.  


“Well, I have good taste.”  


I felt a blush rising into my cheeks. Even in this state, he knew how to make a girl feel special.  


“Why have you had my blood?”  


“Well, I’ve had it a few times, starting last year when we were in Dallas.”  


“What about siblings or parents?”  


I stopped at the closet of my old room, now the spare room, and looked into his eyes. He looked genuinely concerned.  


“My parents died when I was young and I have one brother but he lives in our parents’ old house. He’s got his own life, I don’t see him much.”  


“You have suffered many great losses,” he said quietly.  


I nodded and stared at the ground. Eric put his fingers under my chin and lifted so our eyes would meet.  


“If you were mine, I would take care of you. You would not be lonely. You wouldn’t have to work. Pam informed me that I am very wealthy.”  


It was a nice thought. Two people sharing a life, taking care of each other. An unattainable fantasy for me, but a lovely dream nonetheless.  


“You don’t even know me.” I reminded him.  


“I feel a connection to you. I will know you.”  


“When you’re back to your normal self you won’t want that.”  


Not knowing what else to say, I opened the closet and moved things around and lifted the hidden door that led to the vampire resting place that my ex had built.  


“You’ll know to get in before the sun comes up, right?”  


He took a moment to think. “I believe so.”  


Not super comforting. I didn’t want to wake up and find that he had burned up in the sun. I genuinely like Eric (most of the time) and I would miss him. Not to mention Pam would probably literally kill me for not doing a better job protecting him.  


“Ok, well, I’m going to go wash up and go to bed, you can watch TV or read or whatever you want until you need to go to rest. Just stay inside, ok?”  


He agreed, so I went into my private bathroom to take care of my human needs, wash my face, brush my teeth, and change into an ugly and old, but very comfortable flannel nightgown. I’d originally wanted a shower, but this would have to do. I didn’t have the energy to do anything else. I pulled my ponytail out and my scalp tingled at its release. Then I slid under the covers and sighed in relief to finally be able to relax. I was beginning to doze when I felt the weight of someone climbing into bed with me. I tensed, preparing for fight or flight.  


“It’s just me,” Eric whispered.  


“What are you doing?” I hissed.  


“I don’t want to be alone.” He sounded so lost and forlorn that I found I couldn’t kick him out. If he was his normal self I would have kicked him right out, but instead I scooted over to make more room for him, and he wiggled his giant self under the covers.  


“Hands and fangs to yourself, mister”  


He nodded soberly. “I swear.”


	2. Chapter 2

I woke around 1 in the afternoon, thankfully alone in my bed. I was pretty surprised that I’d actually fallen asleep next to a vampire who may as well have been a stranger to me, despite wearing the face of someone familiar. That’s how tired I was. I got up and checked the spare room and the floor was back down in the closet, and I could sense a void down there so I knew Eric had gotten in before the sun. I moved things back into place so it looked like a normal closet. I did actually use it for storage of off season things so it wasn’t just a ruse to hide the resting place.

I was glad that I had woken with a few hours before sunset since I needed to run some errands and didn’t want Eric to wake up alone. I took a super quick shower, dressed and grabbed some toast to eat in the car, poured my coffee into a travel cup, and drove up to Wal-Mart. While there I picked up a couple four packs of True Blood and some men’s clothing. I wasn’t really sure what size Eric wore, so I just bought the longest pants and shirts I could find. Idly I wondered if Eric normally had his pants tailored to fit him. Or maybe he shopped at a Big and Tall. He must have been absolutely gargantuan when he was a human- I’d read that people were shorter then. I’m not real well educated, but I like to read a lot and I’ve learned lots of interesting things that way. That reminded me that I had library books to swap for new ones if I had time while I was out. But first I had to finish grocery shopping. I was glad for the good tips I’d gotten the night before since I was buying things outside of my normal budget.

While I was grabbing milk and eggs, I ran into my brother Jason.

“Hey Sis!” he greeted me with his trademark grin and a side hug. He looked into my cart. Uh oh. “What’s with the clothes? And the blood?”

“I have company.” I hoped that would be enough to satisfy his curiosity, but of course it wasn’t.

“You back together with Bill?”

“No, Bill is in Peru.” Even if he wasn’t, I’d still not forgiven Bill for raping and nearly draining me when we were stuck in the trunk of a car together. After I’d already risked my life to save his unfaithful ass. I was a little bitter still.

“Wow, you moved on fast. Not that I got any place to judge. Another vamp though? Couldn’t you date a regular fella?”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t actually dating my house guest, although it was probably better if Jason thought I was. “You know I can’t date a human, Jase.”

“Why’re you buying him clothes?”

“He wasn’t expecting to stay overnight and he’s from out of town, so I figured he’d like to have some clean stuff when he gets up.”

That seemed to be enough for him. He nodded and asked how my New Year’s Eve was. I shared my happiness at making good tips that night. He told me about the girl he’d showed up at Merlotte’s with. Crystal something. He went through so many girls that I didn’t normally pay much attention to them, but this one stuck out- she was a shifter of some kind. I couldn’t tell what, but I’d picked up on her brain signature enough to know that she sprouted fur or feathers at least a few days a month.

“I’m glad you had a good time with her, but be careful with that one.”

“Aw, she’s tough, I ain’t gonna break her heart.”

“It’s not her I’m concerned about.”

He gave me a weird look, but insisted he was fine. Jason and I don’t talk about my little quirk, but he usually trusts my judgment when I say something about someone, accepting that I pick up on things that others don’t. We parted with a promise to have lunch soon and I finished my shopping with just enough time to return my library books and grab two new ones. I picked a romance (because apparently I need to live vicariously through others) and a mystery.

I opened the back door carrying my bags of groceries and was met with a snarling vampire in my face. I dropped my bags in shock.

“Dammit Eric! I probably just broke my eggs. It’s a good thing blood comes in plastic bottles now, or I’d be really angry.”

His fangs went back up wherever they go when they’re not out and his body relaxed. “I’m sorry. You were gone when I woke up and I thought something bad had happened to you. I thought maybe you were the witch coming back to do terrible things to me.”

I sighed. “I tried to get back before you’d be up. I didn’t take into account the overcast day and that it would allow you to rise sooner.”

He bent down to pick up the bags and placed them on my old wooden table. He carefully unpacked each item, apparently afraid to cause more damage. His clothes, the blood and most of the groceries were fine. The bread was a little smushed and two of the eggs had broken, but overall everything had survived.

It was only then that I realized that Eric was not wearing a shirt. In order to avoid staring, I busied myself with putting things away.

“Those clothes are for you, if you want to change,” I called over my shoulder. “There are a few shirts, a pair of jeans, and some socks and underwear. I had to guess on the size, so I’m sorry if they don’t fit well.”

“Sookie?”

“Yes?”I had run out of things to put away, so I was just staring at the wall like an idiot.

“Are you angry with me?” his voice sounded regretful and worried.

“No, everything turned out fine and I know you were just reacting on instinct and fear.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

I took a deep breath and then turned around. “Honestly, because you look really good without a shirt on and I’m trying not to ogle you.”

He responded with a lopsided smile. He ran a hand down his torso and cocked his head to the side. “This is problematic to you?”

I tried to fight the blush rising to my face. Why hadn’t I come up with a better reason? It’s not like he doesn’t know how good he looks.

“I’d like to spend some time in your company, so I shall dress.” He pulled a flannel shirt from the pile of clothes I’d purchased and put it on. I was equal parts relieved and disappointed to see all that beautiful flesh disappear.

“What would you like to do tonight?” I felt like I needed to entertain him.

He walked over to the fire place and started a fire going. I don’t normally have a fire because wood is expensive to buy, but I’d had to have a tree cut down and Jason had chopped it up for me in exchange for dinner. This was a nice luxury. I pulled out a blanket and spread it on the floor and grabbed some pillows from the couch and laid down to bask in the warm glow. I thanked him for getting it going and he sat down beside me.

“I would like to learn about myself. What am I normally like? How do we know each other?”

I told him about our first meeting at Fangtasia. Bill and I had just begun dating, although not officially, and I was trying to find information on Dawn and Maudette, two local women who’d been strangled to death. The reason I went to a vampire bar about them is that they both also had bite marks when they’d died, and the local police weren’t trying very hard to solve the murders- they just wanted to blame Jason for them since he’d known both of them in the biblical sense (and stupidly filmed it.) I recollected that Eric had exuded power and authority even just sitting in his booth. When we talked he had graciously given me answers much to Pam’s surprise. (He had slept with Dawn but had turned Maudette away; Pam hadn’t been with either of them.) He had learned of my telepathy that evening when I warned him of a raid that was about to occur after picking it up from an undercover police officer’s mind.

Then I told him about Long Shadow and how I’d read the minds of his staff to discover his bartender was the thief of 60,000 dollars and Long Shadow tried to kill me. Eric staked him and saved my life. Eric seemed very excited by this and pleased to have been my hero.

After that, I told him that we didn’t see each other much until I was loaned out to the vampires of Texas to find a missing member of the Sheriff’s nest. (Vampires are divided up into areas and the leaders of those areas are called Sheriffs. Eric was the Sheriff of Area 5 and I sometimes still pictured him in old Western gear when I heard the term. Overseeing each state was a king or queen. I know, I laughed my butt off the first time I heard it too. Louisiana apparently has a queen.) I described how Eric had followed me to Dallas as Leif to make sure things went smoothly. They of course did not. In the process of finding the missing vampire Farell, I had been imprisoned, attacked, nearly raped, almost killed, and in a serious car accident. Eric’s eyes grew wide as I recalled the incident to him. He had played doctor after some local shape shifters returned me to the hotel. Then, because all of that wasn’t enough, the following night at Farell’s happy return party, members of The Fellowship of the Sun (an anti-vampire organization) had opened fire on the house killing several humans and injuring many vampires. The Fellowship hates vampires, and they don’t consider the humans that consort with them to be any loss to humanity if they are killed. In fact, they had planned on tying me to one of the captured vampires and crucifying him so that we would both burn when the sun came up. And they call themselves Christians. When the chaos began, my boyfriend Bill had run off to kill our attackers. Eric on the other hand had shielded me with his body, saving my life again. I sucked a bullet out of his chest so that it wouldn’t heal into his skin and had swallowed a small amount of blood in the process.

“So that’s why I feel your emotions,” he said in an “ah ha” voice.

“Partly, but I had a lot more of your blood recently, which is probably more what it is.”

He asked me to tell him the rest. I told him about the Maenad, how she had attacked me as a message to him, and how he’d attended an orgy with me to help me solve the murder of my friend Lafayette. Eric was mighty interested in this part, and was disappointed to learn that we had not had sex at this party, or any other occasion. I told him about him and Bill holding me still while the rest of the party died in the madness the Maenad had caused.

Then came the story of Club Dead. I was in search of Bill who had left me for another vampire and lied to me about where he had gone. He was working on a top secret project for his queen and was captured and tortured for information on it. Lorena, his lover and maker, I later discovered, was one of his torturers.

Prior to finding and saving Bill, I had gone to a bar for supes called Josephine’s that the Weres called Club Dead. I went there in hopes of using my telepathy to find information about Bill’s whereabouts. Alcide, a werewolf with businesses and homes in both Shreveport and Jackson, had gone with me to pose as my boyfriend, since aside from my extra sense I’m just a measly old human and wouldn’t have been welcomed there by myself. The second night at the club, an anti vampire fanatic had somehow gotten in, and in warning the vamps about it, I took a stake in my side. Russell Edgington, the vampire King of Mississippi, had me taken back to his mansion (it was his second in command that I saved) to be healed.

Eric had followed me, undercover as “Leif” again, which I am eternally thankful for, as he proceeded to heal me and save my life at least twice. After the King’s friends did some basic healing, Eric gave me a significant amount of his blood to heal faster and give me strength to rescue Bill from his captors.

“Why are you embarrassed about me healing you?” he asked. Sometimes having someone else feel your emotions was awkward.

“Well, we were only in our underwear, and we ah, kissed. And stuff.”

“And stuff?” If I didn’t have his complete attention before, boy did I now.

I nodded.

“What kind of stuff?”

I blushed furiously. I’d had only one lover in my entire life, and despite growing up hearing and seeing dirty thoughts from other people, I’d always been a bit awkward talking about sex. There was no way I was describing that moment.

“You used your hands. That’s all I’m going to say- you can fill in the rest with your imagination.”

He smiled and nodded. Indeed he could use his imagination.

The day after I got staked, I found Bill in a building near the mansion, chained and looking barely alive. I saved him from his evil maker Lorena, and while I was freeing him, she attacked me and I killed her in order to survive.

“You killed a vampire?” Eric sounded impressed.

I didn’t want to take a lot of credit, after all it was a short fight and vampires are not as strong during the day, but I had indeed killed that bitch.

We lay together for awhile, me not wanting to tell the rest of the story, and him knowing I was holding something back.

“Lover, what are you leaving out of the story? Something troubles you greatly.”

I took a deep breath to steel myself. I shut my eyes as I told the rest, not wanting to see his face when I said it. I had gotten Bill into the trunk of a car that Eric had “borrowed” for me, and parked it in an underground parking structure of Alcide’s apartment building. When I opened the trunk to check on him, Debbie Pelt, Alcide’s (ex?) girlfriend shoved me into it and shut the lid.

I felt Eric tense beside me.

“It gets worse.” I whispered.

When Bill finally began stirring in the trunk after the sun set, I tried to get him to drink the True Bloods that I’d put in there for him, but when there was a living, breathing snack right next to him, he had zero interest in it. He tore my throat open and drank hungrily from me, and then forced himself on, and in, me. Once he’d taken enough of my blood, he finally came to his senses and stopped, but even in the state he was in, I didn’t know if I could ever forgive him for the attack. Eric had once again saved my life, because when he found us, he ripped off the lid of the trunk and pulled me out, then delivered more first aid.

“So anyway, that’s why you can feel me so strongly.” I said in a rush. “I had a lot of your blood a few weeks ago. Oh, you also killed a bunch of Weres that had broken into my house when we returned from Jackson together.”

At this point he had laid down next to me. While I was on my stomach propped on my elbows, he was laying on his back with his hands clasped on his stomach. I could faintly hear a growl deep in his throat.

“If I ever see him, I will tear him apart.” He said, his voice icy. I had nothing to say in response, I just held back the tears that prickled my eyes whenever I thought about what had happened.

We laid there quietly for a few moments, and once I was able to let go of the pain, I just enjoyed being in someone’s presence and not having to hold up my shields. His mind was delightfully blank. He could be going over everything I’d just told him, or he could be thinking of other women he’d prefer to be with. The beautiful thing was, I had no idea. His mind was a mystery to me. As we laid there, I reflected on all I’d told him and realized how incredibly helpful he’d been to me. He’d saved my life on at least five occasions, only maybe two of which the man who was my boyfriend at the time had been any help at all. Eric was good to me. I may not agree with everything he did or his methods in doing so, but I was beginning to wonder why I kept pushing him away. Especially in favor of Bill.

I turned onto my side and cautiously cuddled up against him. He looked down at me in surprise.

“What did you think about what I told you? Do you like your normal self?”

“Well, although I only know of myself from your perspective it seems that I am cunning, brave, and a good warrior.”

Those seemed like good adjectives to describe him, and I told him so. I told him that he was also a good business man, a fair leader, sometimes a bit sneaky, and according to the thoughts of Fangtasia’s patrons, a sex god. He was extra pleased at this.

“Would you like to find out if they are right?” he asked brazenly.

I tucked my face into the crook of his shoulder. I most definitely wanted to find out, but this was Eric. Big, badass, Viking, Sheriff Eric. Kind, compassionate, life saving Eric. I’d never been someone to have sex just to have it; I’d only done it with one person, someone I was committed to. I think he could sense my inner conflict.

“We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to” he murmured, “I just want you to know that I am very willing if you are.”

I looked up at him and saw the sincerity in his face. Then I closed the short distance between us and placed my lips softly on his. He returned the kiss and slowly increased the intensity. Although he may not remember it at the moment, he had a thousand years of practice kissing and had perfected the art of it. He turned us so that I was on my back and he was above me, his free hand roaming lazily over my body as we kissed. Before I had a chance to wonder how far I would let this go, the phone rang.

I sighed in frustration.

Eric said something in a different language that I was certain was a curse.

I untangled myself from him and got up to answer the phone. I pulled the phone from its cradle on the wall and put it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Sookie, how is my master? I have felt a wide range of emotions from him. Are you keeping him safe?” It was Pam, sounding stressed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a stressed vampire before- it couldn’t be a good sign.

“Hey Pam. He’s fine, we were just talking about our past. And earlier he almost attacked me when I got home because he thought I was the witch. Why don’t you come over and see him?”

“I can’t. I don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to your house while he is there. The witches know me and they could have someone following me to try and find him.”

That made sense. I asked her if she’d made any progress tracking them down, or if they had a plan to return Eric to his normal self. She said the area’s best trackers were on the case. So far they had determined that the main witch “Hallow” was a Were, the male witch that had accompanied her was her twin brother Mark, also a Were. If that that wasn’t bad enough, it seemed they were also V junkies. V was the street name for vampire blood- when a person drinks blood from a vampire it makes them stronger, more attractive, healthier. Of course the results are also unpredictable and could last a few days, to a few weeks, or even months. It depended on the age of the vampire, how long it had been out of their body, “on the shelf” so to speak, and the person who’d taken it. Vampires were not willingly giving their blood away; there were people called drainers who would capture them and drain their blood and then sell it. It was very illegal and if the vampire survived and killed the drainer, the law didn’t typically do much about it- technically it was self-defense. I’d had vampire blood a few times. I’d gotten it from Bill twice (not by my choice, but to heal after being attacked by a couple rednecks right after we’d met, and another time for strength before a job) and my senses had increased, my hair had gotten lighter and I was stronger and had better reflexes. When Eric had healed me, all those side effects had been present but more intense, and I’d also had the feeling that I could crawl on the outside of a building like Spiderman. Thankfully common sense and Eric’s presence had not allowed me to try. Most junkies didn’t have common sense and when they got a crazy urge to fly or walk into traffic they tried- and either died or were critically injured.

“Hey, what happened to the booby trapped witch that Chow attacked?”

The silence on the other end told me that she was definitely dead, and probably tortured for information first.

“She proved to be worthless to us,” Pam replied flatly.

“Are they going after others in Shreveport or just Eric?”

“As of now, I’ve given you all the information I have. I will call again when I know more.” Then she hung up. Phone etiquette has never been her strong suit. Dear Abby must not talk about that.

I walked back into the living room with Eric trailing behind. I didn’t bother relaying my conversation with Pam because I knew he’d heard the whole thing- Vampires have extremely heightened senses. Now I was frustrated and no longer in the mood for what I’m sure Eric was if the look in his eyes was any indication. I flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV which was airing the weather forecast.

“Hey, looks like we might actually get snow.” Temperatures in Louisiana drop in the winter, but rarely low enough for snow.

Eric’s face lit up. “Really? I love the snow!”

“Of course you do,” I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Apparently no matter what state his mind is in, Eric is a shameless flirt. He came and sat next to me and ran his fingers through my hair. I sighed- it was relaxing, but the sigh was also one of regret.

“I have to go to bed- I work the lunch shift tomorrow.” I really didn’t want to move though. I had my head resting on the back of the couch and my eyes were closed, just enjoying this relaxing moment while pretending my life wasn’t a hot mess. I felt Eric’s weight shift and suddenly I was off the couch being carried.

My eyes flew open. “What are you doing?”

“You said you needed to sleep, but you were making no effort to move. I thought perhaps I would help.”

Then he dumped me unceremoniously on the bed. I laughed and playfully swatted him on the arm. The more time we spent together the more “Eric” I saw. He was so affectionate and playful. The “real” Eric is those things too, but he’s got a thousand years of memories and politics that keep him from being so innocent (a word I would _never_ have thought I’d use to describe him.)

I dug through my drawers for clean underwear, socks and pajamas and then scooted off to the bathroom to get ready for bed- I washed my face, brushed my teeth, brushed the tangles out of my hair, and changed into my warm pjs. The matching flannel set didn’t exactly scream “ravish me” but that was for the best. I needed to slow down whatever this thing was that was happening between Eric and me.

When I emerged back to my bedroom, Eric was under the covers reading one of my library books. I tried not to be embarrassed about my love of trashy romance novels, but the smirk he gave me made that difficult.

“So, tell me about Reginald’s quivering member.” He teased.

I shut off the light and crawled into bed. “Shut up.” I buried my face in my pillow.

He pulled me over to him so that his chest became my pillow and resumed gently stroking my hair. I think he found it calming as well, kind of like petting a cat or a dog.

“What time do you get off work tomorrow?” Eric murmured into my hair.

“I work the lunch shift, so I should be home by six-ish.”

I felt him nod.

“If you wake up before I get back, feel free to watch TV or something. You’re obviously already comfortable raiding my guilty pleasure books,” I giggled.

“You should not feel guilt for finding pleasure…of any kind.” Although the tone in his voice was flirtatious, he was also just making a good point. Things that make you happy, or feel good, so long as nobody else is being hurt by it, there shouldn’t be shame in it. I knew for a fact that in his normal life Eric lived by those rules, and probably ignored the part about not hurting other people on occasion- violence and blood get him pretty excited.

“May I kiss you goodnight?” he asked.

I tilted my head up to him and he bent his down. He placed a soft, chaste kiss on my lips and then leaned back on my pillow.

“Sleep well, Sookie.” He closed his eyes and slowly ran his fingers up and down my arm.

And that’s how I fell asleep cuddled up to Eric two nights in a row.


	3. Chapter 3

The lunch shift at Merlotte’s is a lot more relaxed than the evening shift, which has its pros and cons. On the upside, I have less shielding to do, and a lot of the day is prep work before opening, so it’s pretty laid back. On the down side, the majority of my income is tip based, so less customers equals smaller paycheck. We have a few regulars that come in at least a few times a week for lunch; we don’t have a large menu, but what we do have is really good. Then there’s Jane Bodehouse, our resident drunk who’s often already drinking/drunk well before dinner time. I feel bad for her son who we have to call all the time to come get her.

On this day, I was bringing burgers and cokes to the parish road crew. Catfish Hennessy is the boss of the crew. His real name is Shirley, so you can imagine why he goes by a nickname. He’s a big guy though, so if you felt like laughing at his name, you’d think twice about it after seeing him. Jason is on the road crew, so I was surprised when he wasn’t at the table with the rest of his coworkers.

“Jason sick today?” I asked Catfish.

He shrugged. “I was gonna ask you the same, he didn’t call and didn’t show up. It’s really unlike him. I tried calling him when he didn’t show, but he didn’t answer his phone.”

I bit my lip and finished dropping off plates. Jason may be a horndog, and a less than stellar brother, but he takes pride in his job and it concerned me that he didn’t show up and didn’t even call.

“You ok Sook?” Sam asked as I returned to the bar.

“I don’t know. I think something’s wrong with Jason. He didn’t show up to work today.”

“He probably just crashed at some girl’s place and forgot his phone.”

“But to not show up at all? Even for him, that’s too flakey.”

“We’re pretty slow right now, I can have Terry take over for me for a bit if you want me to go with you to check his place out.”

I looked around and he was right. Other than the road crew and Jane there were only a handful of other patrons and the other waitress, Holly, could handle it.

“Could you Sam? I’m kind of scared to go by myself. I can’t find another family member…” I choked up on the end of my sentence. The image of my gran dead on my kitchen floor flashed in my memories.

“C’mon, let’s go.” He talked to Terry and Holly for a minute and then went with me to his car.

The view at Jason’s house did not give me any comfort. His truck was pulled up in front of his house, but the driver’s door was wide open. I was extra glad that Sam had offered to come with me. When we got out and started looking around, I was also thankful for his dual nature, because he started sniffing around, picking up on things that I would never smell.

Jason’s front door was locked, so I used my key to get in, calling for him on the off chance that he was just shacked up with some girl. He didn’t answer, because he wasn’t home. We walked around the outside of his property to see if we could get any clues to his whereabouts. We even walked down to the lake. I saw something on the dock. As we got closer it looked like a bloody animal print.

“Sam, what is that?” I asked, hating the tremor in my voice.

He didn’t answer, but he got closer to inspect it, and I picked up the word “panther” from his brain.

“What the hell would a panther be doing out here?” I wasn’t concerned about the rudeness of listening to someone’s thoughts at the moment.

“There’s a community around here…what was the name of the girl Jason’s been seeing lately?”

It took me a minute to think. “Crystal something? Norman, Nor…something?”

“Norris?” Sam cocked his head.

“Yeah, that was it. Why?”

“C’mon.” he gestured for me to follow him back to his car.

He began driving and told me about Hot Shot. Everyone knew about the little neighborhood, that its tenants were poor and unusual. (I’m poor and unusual, I know, but the community as a whole, there is something off about them.) Apparently they are a community of weres- not weres with a capital W, that’s reserved for werewolves apparently. These were werepanthers. All of them. To keep their bloodline going, they were severely inbred, which led to a lot of seclusion and defects. Sam knew these things as a fellow shifter that the rest of the world would never know. Having Sam with me made me feel safer and like maybe the people there would actually let me in, even though they are notoriously not friendly to outsiders.

We pulled up to the small neighborhood, out in the middle of nowhere. Bon Temps is in the middle of nowhere, so Hot Shot is really out there. The houses were modest and most were in pretty serious need of repairs, with peeling paint, some with broken and boarded up windows. There was an eerie stillness to the area. I realized it was the lack of wild animals. Usually in an area like this there are a lot of stray dogs and cats. I didn’t want to think too hard about the reasoning behind that. One of the houses was larger than the others and in much better shape. Sam led me to that one and told me that it belonged to Calvin Norris, the leader of the Hot Shot clan.

I knocked on the door and a middle aged man answered the door with a skeptical look on his face. He looked like an average blue collar worker for the most part; he was well groomed, muscular, had a gray but neat beard…and golden eyes. Those eyes were locked on me, and I felt a tickle of discomfort crawling up my spine that I forced myself to repress.

“Can I help you?” His voice was gruff, but not unpleasant.

Sam stepped up beside me. “Hi Calvin, how’s it going?” he stuck out his hand to him.

Calvin shook his hand. “Merlotte. Things are well. What brings you to my neck of the woods?”

Sam looked to me, an invitation to speak.

“Hi, my name is Sookie Stackhouse and I have kind of an odd question.”

He nodded, encouraging me to continue, although the look in his eyes was wary.

  
“Well, you see, my brother has been dating Crystal, and we found a bloody panther print on his dock, and um, I guess I was just hoping maybe someone here had some idea of what happened to him?”

His brow furrowed. “This is a serious accusation, young lady.”

“I’m not accusing anyone of anything, honest! I just want to make sure my brother is ok, and this is my only lead. Please, he’s all the family I got left. If you know anything, I’m begging you to help me.”

He nodded his head. “I understand how important family is. I don’t know anything about him, but I’ll be happy to go with you to see Crystal and see what she knows.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I honestly thought he would turn me away. I followed him to the house across the street. It was a little but cute house, with a small screened in porch with a recliner on it and some scattered baby toys. Calvin knocked and waited for a response. The woman that answered was not Crystal, but she bore a resemblance to her. Apparently she was her sister, and Calvin was their uncle. She invited us in and I looked around, hoping for some sign of Jason, but all I saw was a small living room with too much furniture and a toddler that was wandering around with a bowl of goldfish crackers while watching TV.

A minute later, Crystal emerged from the hallway and looked startled at her visitors.

“Hi Crystal,” I greeted her.

Her eyes narrowed at me. “Who’re you?”

“My name is Sookie Stackhouse. This here is my friend Sam.”

He got a small nod from her- I think Supes can smell otherness on each other so they get more respect than little ol’ me.

“Wait, did you say Stackhouse?”

I nodded.

“You related to Jason?”

“He’s my brother- I was actually here to see if maybe you knew where he was?”

“I ain’t his keeper.”

“Crystal…” Calvin warned. “This girl’s tryin’ to find her brother. If you know anything, you’d better talk.”

“I don’t know nothin’,” she insisted, but her brain suggested that wasn’t the whole truth. I couldn’t fully read her thoughts, just snippets since she’s a shifter, but I picked up the name “Felton.”

“Who’s Felton?” I asked.

Her eyes went wide and Calvin locked his eerie eyes on me.

“Sook?” Sam asked.

“She was thinking about someone name Felton!” I blurted. I didn’t care about outing my own oddity at the moment, if it meant finding Jason.

Calvin turned to her. “Tell me what you know. Now.” You could feel the authority around him, and you wouldn’t argue with that tone.

“I- I don’t’ know for sure, it’s why I didn’t want to say,” she glared at me but continued. “Felton was jealous of Jason. Said he oughta pay him a visit so I wouldn’t think he was so special.”

“Oh my god,” I covered my mouth. Did he intend to disfigure my brother? Or, maybe worse- bite and turn him? I just prayed that Jason was alive and unharmed.

“Come.” Calvin signaled for Sam and me to follow.

We walked outside to the next house. Calvin knocked, but got no response. I could tell he was about to break the door in, but before he did, the shed next to the house opened and a thin man came out. He moved with such odd grace, almost like he slinked. If I didn’t know he turned into a cat at least a few days a month it would have really weirded me out. It’s no wonder most of the Hot Shot residents don’t really wander out of their own community much. The inbreeding had left some of them difficult to pass as entirely human.

The man stopped abruptly when he saw us standing there.

“Hey Calvin, what’s up?” He tried to play casual, but I could read the guilt in his mind as clearly as if it was flashing in neon.

“Open the shed Felton,” Calvin said.

Felton got angry. “I got a right to privacy.” He argued.

Calvin moved so fast that I barely saw the movement. His hand hit Felton across the cheek, leaving four bloody red ribbons. I didn’t know shifters could shift just part of themselves, like a paw as he must have.

“Open it.” He growled.

Felton turned, defeated and put in the code to the big lock he’d put on. Once the door was open Calvin grabbed Felton to hold him still and I ran in, afraid of what I would find.

Jason was against the wall, shirtless, with his hands tied above him. His face was a bit bruised, and he looked dirty, but I didn’t see any bites. Jason turned his eyes to me, his eyes squinting at the light.

“Sookie? That really you?”

I rushed to him to start untying him. When his arms were free, he threw them around me,

“I thought that crazy fucker was gonna kill me.” He pulled back and I could see tears at the corners of his eyes. “He said he was gonna make me a panther so Crystal wouldn’t like me better than him.”

In addition to being kidnapped, beaten, and held prisoner, this had been a shocking day or two for Jason. He didn’t know that there was more to the supernatural world than vampires before Felton had told him his plan.

“I’d laughed at him when he said he was gonna make me a panther. I thought he was crazy. But then sure as shit, he turned himself into a giant cat right in front of me. Did you know there were people who could turn into animals?”

After seeing my face, he said “Well, I guess you woulda. What else is there?” His voice contained a mixture of horror and wonder.

“Now’s not the time, Jase. Let’s get you home.”

Sam pulled his jacket off for Jason to slide into and we began walking out. Calvin was still outside, pinning Felton to the building.

“Miss Stackhouse I am glad you found your brother, and I apologize that this situation occurred.”

“Me too,” I looped an arm around Jason’s waist. “Thank you for all your help.” I shuddered at what might have happened if we hadn’t found him so quickly.

“If we handle Felton ourselves, can I trust you not to go to the police?”

I looked to Sam and he nodded at me.

“Yes, he was the only one that did this. I won’t bring the police to your home.”

The relief was clear on Calvin’s face. Hot Shot was not like the rest of society and as Sam later informed me, they had their own justice system; one that might seem barbaric to the rest of us, but it worked for them.

“I do wish Crystal would have spoken up to tell someone about Felton’s plan; she’s not really guilty of anything though.”

“Her omission will be dealt with, don’t worry.”

I bit my lip. I didn’t know what kind of punishments were going to be dealt out, and I didn’t really want to know.

“Thank you again,” I said as I began leading Jason to Sam’s car.

“Miss Stackhouse.”

I stopped and turned.

“I realize now is not the right time, but I would like to see you again.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, or what manner in which he wanted to see me, so I just nodded and kept walking.

We got Jason home and settled. He had asked us to stay while he got a shower, and I made him some food. Jason has a large appetite and he hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before. I offered to stay the night with him (not even thinking about Eric at the moment) but he brushed me off. He said he just wanted to get in his bed and sleep. I gave him one more hug and asked him to call me when he woke up or if he needed anything. I also gently suggested that he stop seeing Crystal.

“Trust me, I’m done with her. That asshole wasn’t just her other boyfriend, he was her cousin.” His face wrinkled with disgust.

Sam and I got back in his car and went back to the bar. I started going inside with him to finish my shift, but he told me to go on home as there was only an hour left of it and it had been a very stressful day. This day was going to really hurt my bank account, but it was worth it to get Jason home safely and relatively unharmed. I gave Sam a huge hug and profusely thanked him for his help. I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t gone with me. I’d still be on a wild goose chase and Jason would still be stuck in that shed. I turned on my car radio really loud to try and drown out my thoughts. It didn’t work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It always bothered me how long it took them to figure out what happened to Jason when I think Sam could have pieced it together pretty quickly.
> 
> Also, sorry for no Eric in this chapter, I'll make up for it in the next one!


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was just set by the time I pulled into my driveway, so I assumed Eric wouldn’t have had to entertain himself for long, if at all. I also took a moment to appreciate Eric and my driveway. That seems like a weird connection, but Eric had noticed how desperately my driveway needed to be re-graveled recently, and knowing that I couldn’t afford it, he had ordered new, top quality gravel and paid for it and its installation. A bit high handed, definitely, but I appreciated that he saw a need and helped me without making me humiliate myself by asking someone for help.

Before I got out of my car, I took a moment to send out my mental feelers for anything amiss. I’d been unpleasantly surprised by people in my house on more than one occasion. I only found one void, so I went ahead and got out.

When I opened the door, Eric sped over to me, inspecting me everywhere for signs of problems.

“Your emotions have been very strong and inconsistent. What has happened to you, lover?”

I managed a weak smile, and sagged against him. I felt him inhale and prepared for his next question.

“Why do you smell of filth, and dog, and other wild things?” He was tense under me.

I took a deep breath and began telling him about my day. He listened, asked questions, and rubbed my back and shoulders at the really bad parts. It was really nice to come home to someone and share your day or troubles with them and feel like they genuinely cared. I would miss this when Eric’s memories were restored and he was back to high and mighty Sheriff.

As if on cue, the phone rang. I slowly got to my feet and walked to the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“It’s Pam. I am calling to check in on Eric.”

I told her that he was fine, although probably hungry as he detested the True Blood and wasn’t drinking it.

“Well, why haven’t you offered yourself?”

I didn’t really know how to respond to that. Blood and sex are pretty tied together for vampires and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go there with Eric, especially since he wasn’t really himself.

Pam interrupted my musings, “He’s fine. At his age he needs very little blood to survive. If you are unwilling to share your blood with him, he will last a few days until he is…fixed.”

“Do you have any more information on the witches?”

“Yes, it seems they are targeting all the supernaturals in Shreveport, but I do not know why. That dog you used to hang around with has lost a few members of his pack to an unexpected attack.”

What dog? Surely she didn’t mean Sam, I was just with him today, and he didn’t have a pack.

“Wait- you mean Alcide?”

“Yes. He found bits of one of their women scattered about her bridal shop and a few others are reported as missing. The Long Tooth Pack plans to fight with us when we have formulated a plan. I will call you again soon.”

“Wait, Pam-“ but it was too late, she had already hung up.

I felt Eric’s long arms snake around my waist to pull me against him.

“It will be ok.” He said quietly into my ear. “I am an excellent fighter.”

I had to laugh at that. Vampire logic is so different than human. I did appreciate him trying to comfort me though. I spun around to face him and his blue eyes were dancing with excitement. He leaned down and kissed me, and I didn’t resist. It had been a very difficult day and I just wanted to lose myself for a little while. If it seemed like I was using him, well, he seemed perfectly happy to be used. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his narrow waist as he walked us back to the couch. I was content with our make-out session, but he seemed interested in going further. His hands were roaming everywhere- over my back, in my hair, under my shirt and over my breasts. I was facing him on his lap and suddenly realized how interested he was. The zipper of his jeans was straining and was pushed against my core. His kisses trailed down the side of my neck and I heard his fangs click down.

“Go ahead,” I said, my breathing heavy.

Instead he just licked the skin and then moved back to kissing my mouth. After a few moments of this, he picked me up again and brought me into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I looked at him confused, and he told me to wash off the bad day so we could start fresh.

Without thinking, or telling him to turn around, I began stripping off my clothes. His eyes watched hungrily. When I was down to my underthings, I kept eye contact with him as I removed them. Then I turned and got into the shower with a glance back at him, allowing him to make up his mind about what happened next.

He didn’t immediately follow, so I wet down my hair, and grabbed the shampoo bottle. As I was pouring it into my hand, the curtain opened and a naked Eric stepped in.

“Let me,” he said, taking the shampoo from me. He scrubbed my hair and helped rinse the suds out of it. Then he put in the conditioner, and grabbed my soap. He lathered the soap in his hands and then very slowly massaged it all over my body. He turned me around to wash my back and as he leaned in a little, I could feel his, ah, happy part, pressed against my backside. And he wasn’t that close to me. Oh boy.

I turned back around and took the soap from him.

“My turn.” I said softly and began exploring his body with the excuse of washing him as a reason. I took this opportunity to give myself permission to finally really check him out. His muscles had muscles it seemed, his pale skin had many scars from his human life, and he had just a faint amount of fair hair on his chest and below his bellybutton, creating a “happy trail.”

My hands continued down his chest, his stomach, and down the trail until they were at the place I’d longed to touch for awhile now. I sucked in a breath when I looked at it, not sure it would ever actually fit inside me. Then, I wrapped my hand around him and began stroking. When my hand made contact, he sharply inhaled and leaned his head back. Although I’m inexperienced, I took this as a good sign. He looked back at me and pulled me closer and pressed his fingers against me.

“Is this what we did when I gave you blood?” he asked quietly.

“Better.” I breathed. “I didn’t get to touch you or look at you that time.”

His mouth crashed against me and he pushed me against the wall, his hardness pressing against my stomach. I reached a hand up into his hair and kissed him back with desperation.

In our frenzy, we forgot where we were and I slipped and we tumbled out of the shower, pulling the curtain down on top of us. We lay on the floor laughing until I finally had the sense to turn off the shower and grab some towels. We dried each other off and I wrapped myself in one of the towels, grabbed his hand and led him to my bedroom.

I was ready to take a chance with him, and not feel guilty about wanting the pleasure that he wanted to give.

Afterward, we were laying cuddled in my bed and I was wondering why I had waited so long to give in to Eric. As much as I hated thinking about the other women he’d been with, I had to admit that they were right about his skills. I breathed a happy, satisfied sigh.

He turned to me. “What are you thinking about lover?” His nickname for me was finally accurate at least.

“Nothing really. I’m just happy being here with you. What are you thinking about?”

He slid his hand to my breasts and gave a gentle squeeze. “The most beautiful pair of breasts I’ve ever seen.”

I laughed. “I appreciate the thought, but they’re the only ones you remember seeing.”

He shook his head. “It wouldn’t matter. They’re perfect.” Then he slid under the covers and put his face between them. I laughed again. It was a good thing he didn’t have to breathe or he would probably suffocate in there. He kissed them and then came back up to me.

“Do you like my body too?” he almost seemed insecure, which is insane.

“You’re the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.” I replied without having to think.

He smiled, then with a wiggle of his eyebrows asked, “and what is your favorite part?”

“Definitely your butt.”

“My butt?” he was clearly surprised. “I would have thought you would have said something else,” he grabbed my hand and placed it lower on himself.

“Oh, that’s definitely nice too, but I really love your butt.”

“Nice?” he raised an eyebrow. “Just nice?”

“I guess I should have said it’s a gracious plenty,” I responded and felt it twitch under my hand.

“Gracious plenty…I like that.” He said, then pulled me on top of him.

“Again?” I asked.

“Oh yes.” He responded and then thrust into me and carefully bit my neck at the same time.

The next morning, I got out of bed and I was sore all over. Some places were a good sore, but some felt like bruises from falling in the bathroom. I was glad I didn’t work until evening, so I could take a hot shower and some Advil before hustling drinks and food to everyone in town. When I got into the bathroom for a shower though, I had to laugh. There were towels on the floor and the curtain rod had come out and the curtain was ripped and on the floor. Totally worth having to fix it though, I thought. I’d just use the spare bathroom until I could get to the store and get a new curtain.

As I was preparing for the day, I realized that I hadn’t told Eric that I’d be at work again when he got up. He was smart and would probably figure it out, but just in case, I wrote my schedule for the week down on a piece of paper and stuck it to the fridge. If, for some reason, someone else was in my house it didn’t indicate anything about me having a house guest, but he could see it and figure out where I was. I made myself some dinner and made extra for leftovers. I was starving when I got up because of the hectic day and eventful night I’d had. This way if things didn’t calm down soon, I had easy to reheat food for the next few days.

The first part of my shift at work was pretty uneventful. Thankfully our cold weather uniform had a higher collar which disguised the bite mark from the night before and I didn’t have to deal with prying questions from Sam or customers. It was just a lot of the usual; bringing drinks and food to people, carefully sidestepping leering questions about my personal life-like the ones who implied that since Bill was out of town they would show me what a “real” man was like and help keep my bed warm. 

After the sun was down though, I could feel a weird energy in the air. I turned to the door and saw two people walk in- they seemed to be the source of the energy. There was a man and woman, who were clearly brother and sister, both tall, strangely the woman had cropped hair and the man’s hair was long. Their brains told me that they were both Weres, and something else. They saw me looking at them and walked straight toward me.

My nervous “crazy Sookie” smile snapped into place as I greeted them. “Hey there. Can I get y’all a table?”

They eyed me carefully and then the woman spoke. “We are looking for the owner of this establishment.”

“Oh, Sam’s in his office right now, but I’m sure he’ll be out soon.”

“Go get him please. It is important.”

“Uh, sure. Can I get your name so I can relay the message that you’re waiting for him?”

“I am Marnie Stonebrook and this is my brother Mark.”

Marnie must be the name that Hallow uses around humans. These were the witches that had cursed Eric. I felt my heart skip as I nodded my head.

“Sure thing, I’ll be right back. In the meantime, feel free to sit at the bar or an open table.”

I walked quickly back to Sam’s office. He looked up from his paper work when I walked in and asked what was wrong. I told him there were two people outside who wanted to speak to him.

“Did they say who they were? I’m kind of in the middle of a lot right now.”

“Marnie and Mark Stonebrook. They’re Weres. And Witches.”

“They tell you that?”

“No. Well, their names, the rest I picked up on myself.”

He sighed and stood up and went into the rest of the bar with me. Mark and Marnie were still standing near the door.

“Hi there, I’m Sam Merlotte. What can I do for you?”

“Hello Mr. Merlotte,” suddenly she was all manners apparently. “We were just wondering if we could ask your patrons if they’ve seen a friend of ours who has gone missing.”

Sam scowled. “I can’t have you going around and interrupting everyone’s meals. You got a picture or something I can show them when they pay?”

Marnie revealed printed out pictures that read: Have You Seen This Man? His Friends Are Worried About Him. And then a phone number and… a picture of Eric. She must have seen my reaction to the picture, because she quickly zeroed in on me.

“You know this man, don’t you?”

I quickly pulled myself together and responded, “Isn’t that the guy that owns that vamp bar in Shreveport?”

I could feel Sam looking at me, hear him wondering why I was acting dumb, but fortunately he is a smart man and didn’t say anything.

Marnie’s eyes narrowed. She was sure I knew more than I was letting on, but since she couldn’t just say “Hey I put a spell on that guy and I want to know where he is” she had to keep playing the part of concerned friend.

“He is,” she said. “He hasn’t been to work in several nights and we are concerned about him. We would check his house, but we don’t know his address.”

Just then, my brother, bless his heart, butted into the conversation. I hadn’t even seen him come in.

“Why don’t y’all check at Bill’s house? I think they work together sometimes.”

If looks could kill, Jason would have just collapsed to the floor. In his defense, he didn’t know the situation, so he couldn’t tell why I was so angry at him.

“Who is this Bill?” Marnie asked.

“Oh, Bill Compton- he lives down Hummingbird Lane, just like my sister here.”

Oh my God Jason. Learn to shut up for once in your life.

“Bill is out of town right now, so I’m afraid he won’t be much help.” I told them.

“Maybe we will still check his house, in case he’s come back.” Mark said.

Finally they left, and Sam grabbed my elbow and steered me back to his office.

“Spill.” He said. “You know damn well who Eric is, why are you acting like you don’t?”

Before I would tell him anything, I made him swear not to tell anyone anything. Then I told him how “Hallow” and her coven were going after the supes in the Shreveport area. Thankfully they didn’t seem interested in him. I didn’t tell him about Eric’s whereabouts, just that they’d threatened his bar and then he hadn’t been seen in awhile and that I’d been in touch with Pam regarding the situation. I also told him about Alcide’s pack and the women that had been killed.

“But why are they doing this?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know. Power? They’re Were witches and V addicts.”

“That’s a very dangerous combination. You stay away from them Sookie.”

I told him I had no intentions of getting mixed up with them, which was true. I just didn’t know if I’d actually be able to stay away from them. Staying out of danger is unfortunately, not my strong suit. I told him to be careful as well; I didn’t know if they were going to start going after all the local supes or just those in Shreveport. I hoped Pam’s sources would figure out what was going on soon. Sam promised to destroy the fliers, if for no other reason than to keep more people from getting involved.

When I went back out to work, I saw Holly come out of the kitchen looking terrified, thinking something about the Stonebrooks and hoping they hadn’t seen her. Then I remembered that Holly was a wiccan and maybe she knew something about what was up.

“Hey Holly,” I approached her as she was filling a drink, keeping my voice low. “I was wondering if maybe some time you could tell me a little bit about your beliefs.”

She looked at me sharply. “Why? So you can mock me, or pray for me?”

“No, I just think witches are interesting, that’s all.”

“First of all, I’m not a witch. I’m just a wiccan- we don’t believe in harming others, and we don’t have any actual magic powers. Those people that were in here earlier are witches. And they are nasty ones. They are not above hurting anyone to get what they want. Stay away from them Sookie.”

I nodded. “Ok, I will. What do they want though?”

She looked around and lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “They came to one of our coven meetings. Said they were new to the area and wanted to meet some likeminded people. But that’s not what they want. They want to be in charge. They want revenge. Their family was shunned when the twins were young and eventually the parents got killed in a battle for power. Now they’re back and want justice, to show the people who wronged them what a mistake it was.”

“Holy shit.” I breathed. “They told you all this?”

She nodded. “They wanted us to fight with them to take over the Shreveport…” she stopped, realizing that she was about to say more than the average human knew, but her brain finished “pack.”

“It’s ok, I know about the other things that are out there.” I said.

She looked relieved.

“But why would they want you guys to help take over a pack? Do you have a bunch of shape shifters in your coven?”

“No, I don’t know what she planned to do with us. I’m pretty sure it’s very rare for witches or wiccans to also be…other. I think she just wanted expendable bodies to help her fight, but I got a little boy, I can’t be risking my life, or his for some whack job stranger.”

I was about to say something else when I heard a very loud, “Excuse me! If y’all are done slackin’ off, I’d like a refill over here.”

“I’m so sorry sir, I’ll be right there!” I called.

“Thanks Holly. Keep safe.”

“You too, Sookie.”

The rest of the evening was pretty normal, I had to bust my butt to make up for the time I’d taken with Sam, the Stonebrooks, and Holly, but I caught up. As I worked, I was mulling around a lot of thoughts. It seemed the Stonebrooks had picked Shreveport as revenge. The pack shunned their family and so did the coven, or at least that’s what I interpreted from what Holly had said. I wondered if their parents were V addicts as well and that played a part, or if the local groups just didn’t want to muddy up their ranks with people who were multiple types of supernatural being. That explained the attack on Alcide’s pack, but what did Eric have to do with it? Was it just about the money? Or maybe they just wanted him for his blood- someone as old and powerful as him had very potent blood. I shuddered at the thought. I made a mental note to call Pam as soon as I got home.

I went back to Sam’s office to get my purse and say goodbye, and before I could leave he grabbed my wrist.

“Be careful Sookie, I mean it. Do not get involved in this, it’s not your concern.”

“I appreciate your concern, I do. And I’m always careful.”

He scowled.

“I am! I can’t help it if trouble just comes looking for me sometimes!”

He let out a huge sigh. “Well, call me if you need me to, alright?”

I nodded and gave him a quick hug. “See ya later Sam.”

“Oh, Sook- how’s your brother?”

I shrugged. “You saw him in here tonight. He bounces back quick. Thanks again for all your help yesterday.”

“Any time you need me, just let me know.”

_Needmewantyouneedmewantyou_

I was picking up Sam’s thoughts and it made me a little uncomfortable that he wanted me to need him so badly, so I just thanked him and walked outside.


	5. Chapter 5

I drove home, anxious to see Eric, to relax with him, to make sure he was alright. I was also anxious about calling Pam. The sooner we got this figured out, the sooner we could put Eric back to his normal self, and the sooner…. The sooner I’d be alone again, I realized. That thought made me sad. I’d only been in his company for a few days and already I’d become accustomed to his presence. He wasn’t going to stick around once he had his memories back, and I would go back to being poor pathetic Sookie. Well, I thought, I better make the most of the time I have with him then, so I at least have the memories.

I opened the back door to the house and was instantly swept up in the arms of someone much taller and stronger than me. My initial response was to panic, so I kicked and screamed. I thought maybe the Stonebrooks had come to force information out of me, and then what about Eric? But of course, I quickly realized, when he put me down and apologized for scaring me, that it was just Eric, excited to see me. I launched myself back at him and he caught me, and I kissed him frantically. I’d been so worried that something had happened to him in those seconds before I realized it was him. He tore off my clothes and ravished me right on the kitchen table. It was all over quickly, just to get that crazy energy out, but he still made sure we both had our pleasure before it was done- he’s a very generous lover.

“So tell me about your day, lover.” He said as he followed me to my room as I went to put on un-ripped clothes. “Why were you so scared when you got home?”

I told him about the Stonebrooks and what Holly had told me, my theory based on what I’d pieced together, that I was afraid something had happened to him.

“That reminds me, I need to call Pam.”

I dialed the number for Fangtasia and after a few rings, a bored sounding voice answered, “You’ve reached Fangtasia, the bar with a bite. How can I help you?”

“Hey can I talk to Pam please?”

“She’s busy, can I take a message?”

I very much doubted the person would actually relay the message. “Tell her Sookie Stackhouse called, and that I have some information about our common interest.” I couldn’t think of a better way to convey what I needed to say without actually giving anything away.

“Just a moment.”

There was a strange mixture of sounds, the music got quieter and I heard less voices, it sounded like the person was walking somewhere. Then it was very quiet and I heard a door close.

“This is Pam.”

“This is Sookie.” I smirked.

“Sookie, I trust everything is well? My master seems…happy. Have you finally yielded to him?”

“Hi! Personal!” I protested, though when I looked up at Eric he had a smile very much like a cat who’d caught a canary.

“I apologize, is that not the sort of thing gal pals talk about?”

“I wouldn’t know, I don’t have many friends.” Wait, was Pam saying she thought of me as a friend? “Anyway, aren’t you wondering why I called?”

“Yes, please tell me why I made my dinner leave the office.”

“Sorry. But I have information about what’s going on in Shreveport and was wondering if you knew it already or if you had more information to add to it.”

“Proceed.”

I then told her everything I’d told Eric, what I had pieced together, what I thought was going on, and asked her why she thought they would go after Eric.

“I think you may be right,” she said. “Eric is very wealthy, perhaps she just wanted money from him. Maybe she wanted his money and his blood. We still don’t know what the curse was, or what it was meant to do. Thank you for calling. I will contact my sources and call you when we’ve come up with a next step.”

“Thanks Pam.”

“Goodnight.” That was the closest to a proper end of phone call I’d ever had with her.

Over the next few days, Eric and I had gotten into a comfortable routine. I worked and then I would come home. We would sit in front of the fire and talk or watch television, and we would spend time loving each other. It was really nice. I could see why people would want to be married and have a family. I mean, I wanted those things too, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me. I couldn’t live with someone whose thoughts I could hear all the time, and marrying vampires wasn’t legal in Louisiana yet. I could maybe deal with a shifter or were, but my telepathy is extra strong when I’m touching someone and I couldn’t imagine making love to someone and hearing everything they were thinking during the act. None of this mattered anyway; it wasn’t as though anyone had asked me to marry them or showed interest in me. Well, except Eric, but I’m not sure that really counts if he wasn’t himself.

Then one night, the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hello my breathing friend. Tomorrow we fight and restore my master.”

Pam sounded excited. I was glad that Eric would be back to his normal self, but selfishly I wished we could just keep on living in this little world of our own. It wasn’t much, but it was nice.

“Uh, who is ‘we’? And what is the plan?”

“The vampires of Area 5 and the Longtooth Pack have joined forces to rid the world of the scourge that is Hallow Stonebrook and her coven. All you have to do is bring Eric to us and then leave. We will take her by surprise but we need Eric with us for his fighting abilities and to break the curse.”

We were going to meet at Fangtasia since they are closed on Mondays- we didn’t have to worry about customers or other workers who were unaware of the other supernatural parts of the world. From there, they would form groups. They had found out where Hallow and her minions were meeting and planned to attack from multiple angles. Some of the Weres and vampires that knew me wanted to use me to help orchestrate the fight, since I could reach out to a room and determine how many people were in it and approximately where they were. Pam told them it was absolutely not an option, and it was a good thing because when Eric heard that they had wanted to use me, he was furious and wanted names. Since having him rip apart all those who had slightly threatened me would greatly reduce our victory chances, Pam had wisely refused to tell him who it was.

This was our last night together then. We were supposed to meet the others tomorrow just after sunset.

Eric could sense my inner turmoil and reached a finger under my chin to angle my face toward his. “Do not worry lover. When I am restored, we will still be together.”

I gave him a half hearted smile. As much as I wanted to believe that, I didn’t. I didn’t know if Eric would want anything to do with me after. Maybe he would even be angry at me for the relationship we had formed, since his true self hadn’t consented.

As though to stop the conflict in my mind, he kissed me and proceeded to love me all night long, all over the house. I fell asleep before I had a chance to really focus on what was coming the following day, so I guess his plan worked.

* * * * *

I woke up the next morning with a pit in my stomach. Nothing would be the same after tonight. Either the vampires and Weres would succeed and restore Eric or something would go wrong and he would be stuck in this new version of himself, possibly forever. I really like real Eric (most of the time) and it wouldn’t be right for him to not be restored to his true self, although I do really think “my” Eric is who he could have been if it weren’t for all the horrible things he’s seen and dealt with over so many centuries. The selfish part of me wished things didn’t have to change, that he could stay with me and share a life as we had the past several days, but he had a life and responsibilities that didn’t really include me most of the time and it would be wrong to keep him from that. I knew that even if the choice was mine, which it obviously wasn’t, the only option was for them to fight, stop the witches, and things to go back to how they were before I discovered him and Pam in my house on New Year’s Eve.

I dragged myself into work, thankful that at least I was working the lunch shift and wouldn’t have to rearrange things to get Eric to Fangtasia after dark. I was having a really hard time focusing though, worrying about everything, the results and what would happen to the people I cared about. After I brought a second table the wrong order, Sam pulled me into his office.

“What’s up with you today? Is everything ok?”

I shook my head, as though to clear it. “I’m sorry Sam, I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

He stared into my eyes, and for a moment it seemed as though he was the mind reader and not me.

“Dammit Sook! I told you not to get involved with that shit!”

“It wasn’t really my choice. Besides, I’m not really involved other than delivering someone to the others to do their thing and then leaving. I’m just worried about everyone that _is_ involved.”

He let out a noise of frustration. “You’re never going to be safe as long as you’re involved in that world.”

“What world? This isn’t just vampires. The witches are Weres, and they started it. They’re targeting other Weres in Shreveport too. Like it or not, there aren’t multiple worlds. Other things exist besides humans and that is the world. I just happen to be aware of more than most people.”

“But you could stop going along with them, just live among humans and live a normal human life.” _With me._ His thoughts finished.

I sighed. “Sam, you know that’s not realistic. Besides, I’m not exactly a normal human, a normal life was never in the cards for me.” I turned and started to walk back out of the office but paused to look back over my shoulder. “You’re not exactly a normal human either.”

I finished the rest of my shift and although frustrated and concerned about the upcoming events, I managed not to make anymore careless mistakes. As I gathered my things to leave, Sam gave me one last look, pleading with me not to stay involved in the Supe world. I shook my head sadly and left without saying goodbye.

When I returned home, I was welcomed with a very fangy kiss. Eric was excited about the battle and since for vampires fighting and regular lust tend to be mixed together, he was ready to act on those feelings. I indulged his feelings, and used those passionate moments as a way of saying goodbye to the brief life we had shared. All too soon, it was time to get ready to head to Fangtasia.

We went outside and headed to my car. He looked at it and I could see displeasure on his face at the (lack of) size and its poor condition.

“I am much too large to fit inside there.”

I smirked. “Funny, I thought the same thing when I saw you naked, but that worked out fine. Climb in.”

His scowl changed to a laugh, and he managed to fold himself into the passenger seat.

“When this is over, I am buying you a better car.”

“You absolutely are not.” I argued. “I know it’s not the nicest car, but it’s mine and I worked hard to pay for it.”

“You deserve better.”

I shrugged in response.

All too soon, we arrived at Fangtasia and I knew things were about to change. Eric grabbed my hand as we walked up to the door; I’m not sure if to comfort himself or me. I knocked on the door, and was greeted by Pam, who wore a smile similar to the one Eric had worn when I got home from work-fangy and a little unnerving. Seems everyone was looking forward to the fight.

We walked inside and Pam started introductions, some for my benefit, some because Eric didn’t remember. Many of the faces were new to me, but there was one who needed no introduction- the man from Memphis.

“Bubba!” I exclaimed and hugged him. Most vampires are averse to such casual contact with mere humans, but Bubba was not a normal vampire. He had been so full of drugs and had such a small spark of life left in him when the morgue attendant (who happened to be a vampire and a fan) turned him that he was not very bright. He got passed around to different groups to be cared for, and he hated being called by his real name, but he followed orders to a T. He once followed me all the way to Mississippi because Eric had told him to follow me without clarifying that he only needed to watch me for the evening.

“Hi Miss Sookie! You like my fightin’ gear?” His caretaker of the evening had dressed him up in all camo.

“Very spiffy,” I replied with a smile.

Across the room, I spotted Alcide and was about to go over and say hello when a woman with a long face and a bizarre haircut stepped out from behind him. I immediately tensed.

“What is she doing here?” I asked Pam.

Pam looked confused. “She’s Alcide’s girlfriend and she said she wanted to help us…” She obviously was unaware of the history Debbie and I had.

I snorted. “Yeah, she’ll help alright…probably help the witches.”

Pam raised an eyebrow at me.

“She’s a traitorous bitch who got me raped and almost killed.” I was so angry and shocked at seeing her that I didn’t even pause to think about how humiliating it was to air that part of my past to a room of so many people.

There were several murmurs of confusion and disbelief.

Then a cool voice responded from behind me, “Sweetheart, I think rape is a little too strong of a word for what happened. Although I do agree that she is traitorous and untrustworthy.” Then in front of me stood my former lover who had betrayed and hurt me more deeply than I thought possible.

I froze. Eric, who was holding my hand again stiffened, feeling my swirl of horrible feelings at finding Bill to be here. A deep growl formed in Eric’s throat as he made the connection of who was standing before us.

“So I see it’s true. I heard that you two were…close, but I didn’t believe it until now.” He smiled, a small smile that I once might have found endearing, but now it just seemed cruel.

Not knowing how to respond, I said “I thought you were in Peru working on your big heaps important secret project.”

His smile widened. “I have returned, ready to help my Sheriff.”

I looked to Eric who was now nearly vibrating with rage, his fangs extended, clearly visible due to the snarl on his face.

“Don’t,” I begged him.

He barely tore his eyes away from Bill to look at me. “I swore I would tear him apart if I saw him again.”

“And I’m begging you not to. We have much bigger things to worry about right now and I need you at full strength.”

My words seemed to calm him enough to at least collect himself.

“Alcide,” I started, getting back to the point that had started this uncomfortable moment. “How can you still be with her? You saw what happened to me after she shoved me in the trunk.”

He fumbled for words, unable to come up with a logical and satisfactory answer. “I thought maybe it was a mistake.” He finally offered.

Bill’s cool voice responded, “I assume it was also a mistake when she participated in my torture? When she laughed and tore my flesh? Or when she stole my blood from me and drank it?”

Although I never wanted to see or hear him again, his words were what finally got everyone’s attention focused on what needed to be done about Debbie.

Alcide turned to her, horror on his face. “Debbie? Tell me it’s not true.”

She looked panicked and scrambled for a response, but was not fast enough to come up with a lie.

“Debbie Pelt, I abjure you. I see you no longer. I hunt with you no longer. I share flesh with you no longer.”

Each phrase was more painful to her, and it was obviously a powerful and serious thing that had just happened. If she was anyone else, I might have felt bad for her as Alcide and the rest of the pack walked away from her and acted as though she no longer existed.

Finally, Pam stepped into the center of the room and spoke. “We need to prepare for what we will do next, but someone needs to stay behind with her and make sure she doesn’t run ahead and spoil our plan,” she said with a nod toward Debbie.

Bill volunteered, and since nobody else wanted to be around her or miss out on the actual fight, they agreed. If his plans with her were malicious, nobody seemed too concerned.

Pam laid out the plans. There was an abandoned warehouse that Hallow and her coven had been meeting in. The Weres and vampires would split up into smaller groups and converge on the building from different angles. It was agreed that Hallow was too dangerous to keep alive, but that her brother should be able to undo her spell. He was to be bound and brought back to Fangtasia for “interrogation.” I didn’t want to think about their interrogation techniques, but it was for the greater good.

“Alright, so it’s agreed.” Pam was wrapping up. “We all know our roles. Kill the bitch, and anyone else who gets in your way, but keep the man alive. We meet back here when it’s done.”

She turned back to me then. “Sookie, you head home. Eric or I will either call or come by later to let you know how it goes.” Then to Bill she pointed at Debbie and said, “Don’t let her fuck this up. Eric, you’re with me, let’s go.”

Before following her, Eric gave me a deep kiss. “We shall celebrate together after this.”

I gave him a weak smile. I had no doubt there would be celebrating, I just didn’t think he was going to want to be around me after this.

Then, they were all gone and I was left alone with Bill Compton and Debbie Pelt, two of my least favorite people in the world. Unwilling to stay with them any longer than I had to, I headed to the door to go home.

“Sweetheart, I was hoping we could talk, and maybe clear the air about the unfortunate incident in Jackson.” He said, suddenly appearing in front of me, blocking my path to the door.

“I have nothing to say to you about that, or anything else.”

“Well, perhaps you could refrain from accusing me of being a rapist, at the very least. You didn’t seem that upset about it when Eric and I patched you up afterward.”

I felt sick to my stomach. “I was in shock, Bill. I didn’t want to think about what you had done to me. But after I left and was forced to think about it, the more upset I became. Whether your base instincts took over and you weren’t in your right mind or not, you knew it was me. You would have smelled that it was me. And, since I’ve had your blood, you would have felt my pain and terror, but you did it anyway. Please move so I can go home.”

He stared down at me. “It was just a misunderstanding, and I’m very sorry sweetheart. Please forgive me.”

“Stop calling me sweetheart. And please move.”

Finally, he relented and moved to the side so I could walk out to my car. I got in and sagged with relief. I wasn’t expecting so many horrible emotions tonight and couldn’t wait to get home and maybe just cry in the bath.

But the universe was not on my side today. When I turned the key, nothing happened. I tried again and again, but my car would not start. Even if I knew anything about cars, which I sadly don’t, the lighting in the parking lot was basically nonexistent, so popping the hood would serve no purpose. I was now forced with few options, none of which I liked. I could sit in my car and wait, but it was really cold out, and without the car running I had no heat, and it could be hours before everyone returned. I could call a tow truck, but getting towed all the way back to Bon Temps would cost more money than I could spare. My final option was to go back inside and put up with Bill and Debbie for the foreseeable future. Tragically, that seemed to be my best option. I pulled up my big girl panties and walked back to the door and plopped down on a stool at the bar.

“Back so soon, sweetheart?” Bill’s voice greeted me.

I spun on my stool to see him sitting in a booth with Debbie across from him. “My car wouldn’t start.”

His smile that had once seemed so handsome to me seemed cruel and calculating now. “What a pity.” Had he done something to my car? Surely not. He had hurt me terribly, but he wouldn’t do something like that. Right?

Then it was Debbie’s turn. “You. You turned my Alcide against me. It’s your fault he abjured me. If it wasn’t for you, we’d still be happy together.”

I sighed and walked around to the back of the bar to mix myself and gin and tonic. I’d pay Pam and Eric back for it later. “Your own actions did that, Debbie. All I did was remind him of what you had done to me.” I took a deep drink and sat back down.

She stood up and walked toward me. “You’ll pay for this,” she said with a growl in her voice.

Before she could do anything to me, Bill had his hand around her throat and slammed her against the bar. “You will sit and wait for the others to come back before you are free to go.” He said, his voice icy.

“Thanks,” I muttered.


	6. Chapter 6

After the most uncomfortable hour of my life, trying to ignore Bill and his pleas for me to talk to him, to come back to him, the others started coming back in, in small groups. When Pam got back, she was shocked to see me. 

“What are you still doing here? You were supposed to go home.” She said.

“My car wouldn’t start and I had no way of getting there,” I replied.

Eric walked in then, disheveled and splattered with blood, carrying Mark Stonebrook who was tightly bound in ropes. I noticed then that Pam was not her usual put together self either.

“Are you guys ok?” I asked.

“A few minor injuries which have already healed. But we were victorious. The bitch and all her crew are dead. Now we just need to get this one to speak.”

Eric casually dropped Mark onto the floor. Mark grunted, but began laughing. Eric kicked him. “What do you find funny about your situation?”

Mark looked at me and laughed again. “It’s too late. It doesn’t matter what you do to me.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, a new terror growing.

“It’s too late!” he said again, still laughing. It was like something in him had snapped.

Eric grabbed him by the throat, fangs bared.

“Eric.” Pam’s voice caught his attention. “We need him alive to undo the curse.”

Eric dropped him again.

“Take Sookie home. We will talk very soon.” She tossed him the keys to her minivan. As we were leaving I heard her say, “Bill, do something with Debbie. She’s no longer a danger to our plan. Considering her past treachery, I don’t particularly care what happens to her.”

Eric and I got into Pam’s van and I asked him if he remembered how to drive. He did, and I was relieved. As he drove, he told me of their victory. The witches had been having a meeting, plotting out their next attack on the Shreveport supes. The first members of the Longtooth pack that had been killed were just a warning. They planned to pick them off one by one until they were all dead and all who had shunned them and their family had suffered greatly. The vampires and weres took them by complete surprise. Hallow had tried to cast a spell on the vampires, but Pam had broken her jaw before she could speak. Even though the witches were all Weres and V addicts, the battle was over quickly because our people had come armed and prepared. Everyone had gotten a few injuries, but overall things had gone much smoother than they anticipated. Eric said he expected Pam to torture the information out of Mark to end the curse. I’m not a fan of the idea of torture, but sometimes I guess the ends justify the means. 

We got home and I told Eric to take his bloody clothes off and throw them in the washer to soak. I could tell he was feeling a bit frisky, but I told him he needed to shower first. The sight of blood might excite him, but it did nothing for me.

I heard the water turn on and I grabbed some leftovers from the fridge to eat, when I heard a knock at the door. I was so mentally and emotionally exhausted that it didn’t even occur to me to use my extra sense to see who or what was at the door; I just pulled it open. There, on my porch was Debbie Pelt with an evil grin on her face.

“Oh, what the fu-“

I didn’t finish my sentence because as soon as I started talking, all I knew was pain. My chest hurt. Why was I all wet? Laying down and going to sleep seemed like a wonderful idea, it didn’t matter that I was in the living room and not in bed. I fell to the ground and everything went hazy. I heard yelling and some strange crunching, wet sounds. Someone yelling to me to invite them in. Was that Bill? What was he doing here? Then Eric was screaming and holding me, begging me to hold on, and the other voice (Bill?) arguing with him. Then everything went dark and silent.


	7. Chapter 7

When I woke up, everything felt strange. I smelled soil, my body felt all tingly, and I heard a lot of strange noises. It was still dark, and fumbling my hands around, I couldn’t figure out where I was. And I was hungry. I also felt an overwhelming sadness but couldn’t figure out why. I tried to piece together what had happened, but the details were fuzzy. I realized finally that the grief I was feeling wasn’t actually coming from me; I was picking it up from someone, above me? That’s when I realized where I was. I was buried. Someone had buried me alive? I started panicking and clawing my way through the dirt, trying to get back to the surface.

I pulled myself up and took a deep shuddering breath of fresh air. It felt strange. I looked around and everything was so clear. It was night time, but the moon and stars were so bright that I could see just as clear as if it was day. I could hear all the insects, and the water running from the creek down in the woods. What was going on? Then I discovered the source of the grief.

Eric was sitting on the ground next to where I had come out, bloody tearstains on his face. I was so shocked at seeing him there, and upset, that it didn’t even occur to me that although he could feel my feelings, I’d never felt his before.

“Eric? What’s wrong?” I was more concerned about him than figuring out my own strange situation yet.

“Sookie!” He swooped me up into a massive hug, crushing me against his chest. I was about to protest that I couldn’t breathe when it occurred to me that I didn’t seem to need to breathe. Oh no…

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” He kept repeating into my hair.

“What are you sorry for? What’s going on?” I asked him.

“I should have protected you better. I know you didn’t want this, but I didn’t want to lose you. When that bitch shot you, I felt your pain and got to you as quickly as I could, but it was too late, you had lost too much blood. I couldn’t bear the thought of the world without you in it and I acted on instinct. I wasn’t really myself yet, and I know that’s no excuse, but I had to save you.”

His words started to sink in. “Eric…did- did you turn me?!”

He dropped his head and apologized again.

“Well…I guess I’m glad I shaved yesterday then.”

His head snapped up and he looked me in the eye. Whatever he had expected me to say, it definitely wasn’t that. I don’t even know why I said it. It was just the first thing that had popped into my head when I realized that I was a vampire.

“Do you hate me?” he asked, cleaning the bloody tears off his face.

I sat down and thought about it. “I understand why you did what you did, but it’s going to take a lot of adjustment. Things I’m sure I haven’t even thought about yet aside from how much I will miss the sun.” A sharp pain reminded me how hungry I was. “I need to get something to eat, I’m starving.”

Eric rummaged around in a bag next to him and handed me a bag of blood. I took it in my hands and just stared at it for a moment before I realized that this was what I would need to eat now. I studied the bag, trying to figure out how to open it, and really not wanting to drink the blood. But I was so hungry.

“You can just bite into it,” he said quietly.

“But how-“ then I felt something strange move in my mouth. I moved my tongue around and nicked it on a fang. That tiny taste of blood, even though it was my own changed something and I pulled the bag up to my mouth, suddenly desperate to get the blood into my mouth and unable to think of anything else. I bit into the bag like Eric said, and the blood poured into my mouth. It didn’t taste like I expected it to. I’d tasted my own blood before, when I’d gotten a papercut or something and licked it to clean the blood from my finger and the taste reminded me a bit of a penny. This however, was delicious. It did have a slight metallic hint to it, but it wasn’t unpleasant, and it had a very complex flavor. I drank it down in a few seconds and before I could ask for more, he was shoving another bag into my hand. Finally after several bags, I was able to think more clearly again.

I looked at Eric and desperately wanted him. I was about to throw myself at him when it suddenly occurred to me that he was the real Eric now, not “my” Eric and I couldn’t do that anymore. I also needed to know what happened, why I ended up this way. It was like having a bucket of cold water dumped on me.

“Debbie shot you.” He said, as though he could tell what I was thinking.

I remembered then, opening the door and her standing there with a shotgun. “What happened then?” I asked quietly. I couldn’t piece it together myself, but I figured if he told me maybe I could remember it. Either way, I had to know.

“I heard it and felt you and I got out of the shower and ran to you. But you were already half dead, laying on the floor. Bill was outside with Debbie; she was already dead by the time I got there. He was begging you to invite him in so he could save you. Somehow in that state, you still wanted him to leave and choked out ‘fuck you’ to him.” The corner of Eric’s mouth turned up a little at that. “You were too far gone to save without turning you. I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. Bill wanted me to bring you out so he could be your maker, but there was no way I was letting that snake have power over you ever again. So…I drank the rest of your blood, fed you mine, and buried you here. I slept in your house so I could be here when you rose.” He was quiet for a minute, then continued. “I know I said I did it partly because I wasn’t in my right mind yet, but I would do it again. I’m sorry for how your life will be drastically altered, but my selfishness is not sorry that you are still in the world.”

I sat there quietly, taking it all in. I didn’t really know how to respond, so the first thing out of my mouth was, “My last words as a human were a ‘fuck you’ to Bill Compton?”

Eric laughed. “Yes, I suppose that is true.”

“So, you’re my maker…what exactly does that entail?”

“We can feel each other. I already felt you from when you’d had my blood in the past. But you may have noticed that you can feel me now as well.”

I nodded. “I felt overwhelmed with sadness when I woke up. It took me a minute to realize that it wasn’t coming from myself, but didn’t make the connection right away. Why were you so sad?”

“I felt guilty because I knew you didn’t want to be turned, and I grieved for you. I was also unsure how or if you would survive the transition; occasionally after a violent death things go…awry.” He paused for a minute before resuming. “As your maker, it is my responsibility to train you how to survive, how to behave around other vampires and supernatural beings. How to discover your powers, how to act around humans…how to feed.”

That last bit hit hard, and he knew it would, I think, which is why he added it at the end the way he did. “Can’t I just drink the blood like you gave me tonight? Or True Blood?”

He reached into the bag and pulled out a True Blood and handed it to me. I unscrewed the cap and took a drink. I had to force myself not to spit it out. He gave me a half smile.

“Medically, it is the same as human blood. After all, it was designed for transfusions, not eating. So while technically yes, you could survive off it, do you want to?”

I shook my head. “A lifetime of nothing that tastes good? I didn’t get these thighs and butt because I didn’t like food.”

I felt a small surge of lust come from Eric and cocked my head at him. “Oh yeah, you’ve seen my butt in its ah…natural state.”

“Yes. So again, while you could live off of True Blood, why would you want to when there are so many more delicious options?”

Apparently we were going to gloss over our recent relationship. That hurt, but if he was going to pretend it hadn’t happened or hadn’t meant anything to him, then fine, I could play along.

“Why would anyone drink True Blood then?”

He shrugged. “It’s illegal to feed from humans in public, so it’s a socially acceptable way to get necessary nutrients when you’re out. Then there are a few pathetic vampires who hate themselves or are just so awful they can’t interest a human in feeding them. Although it gave us the ability to ‘come out’, very few of us exist solely on synthetic blood. There are donor banks that provide human blood, which is where I got the bagged blood for you. I assumed with everything to take in, you wouldn’t want to feed on a human straight away.”

“Do these come from a medical bank?”

“No, it’s a vampire owned company. The humans are paid for their donations and they know they’re donating blood as food rather than for other humans.”

“So why can’t I just eat that?”

“You can, at least until you’re comfortable with the idea of feeding properly, but it’s not as good for you as fresh from the source.”

Suddenly it occurred to me that buying blood was going to be expensive. And I would no longer be able to work during the day. I would have to tell Sam that I’d been turned, and my friends and my brother. None of them were likely to take that well. At that realization, all the fears and downsides of my new life came crashing down. If I still breathed, I would have been hyperventilating. Instead, I basically went catatonic. I felt myself gathered into Eric’s arms and placed on his lap. He stroked my hair and sat with me quietly.

“I was wondering when it was all going to hit. Even people that choose to be turned don’t handle it as nonchalantly as you were. This is normal. Allow yourself to feel it so you can cope with it.”

I turned my head so I was nestled against his neck, a place that had brought me comfort before. Instead, I felt my fangs come down, and almost as if acting on its own, my mouth was against his neck preparing to bite him. I snapped back to myself enough to pull back, but he put my mouth back where it was.

“It’s ok,” he said softly. “A maker’s blood is good for their children. It won’t provide you any nutrients, but it can heal and provide comfort, a stronger bond.”

I pressed my mouth back to his neck and kissed him softly, then licked his skin, and pressed my fangs down. The feeling of my fangs piercing his skin was incredible. It felt right. Then his blood began to pour sluggishly into my mouth and it tasted like every good thing I could remember. I latched on, greedily drinking. I felt him stirring beneath me, his erection pressing against me. I turned so that I was straddling him, but not pulling my mouth off yet. I found myself grinding against him and when I took one last mouthful, I came violently.

Eric grunted and shoved me onto the ground and ripped my clothes off. He kissed me roughly and my hands fumbled around to get his clothes off. Without even trying to, I ripped them in my desperation to touch him. Super strength could definitely be a plus. My hands tangled in his hair, holding his mouth against mine and he thrust himself inside me.

After what was the best sex I’d ever had, we were laying there in the dirt and I figured we still had a lot to discuss instead of just basking in the afterglow.

“Go pack a bag, we’re going to stay at my house for the day.” Eric was the first to speak.

“Can’t I just stay here, sleep in the place in the closet?”

“No. A newborn vampire cannot be left alone, and there is not room for both of us in there.”

Although I didn’t want to leave, I understood that it was for the best. I went inside to my room, pulled my old duffel bag out of the closet and packed away a couple days of clothes, things I would need for a shower, as well as for hairstyling and applying makeup.

When I was finished packing, I went out to the living room to find Eric standing there. He was dressed again; he must have had extra clothing with him. It occurred to me then that I was still naked. Awkward. I scurried back to my room and threw on underthings, a t-shirt, and jeans, then rejoined him in the living room.

“Ready?” He asked.

“I guess so. Wait, what day is it? I have to call Sam and tell him I can’t come in to work.”

“That’s already taken care of.”

“What do you mean?”

He grabbed my bag from me and walked to his car in the driveway. He’d of course arrived in style in his red Corvette. “I called him the day after you were shot and told him you needed some time off work. He of course wanted to talk to you, but as you were…well, dead, I told him you were sleeping off an injury and that you’d call him as soon as you were feeling up to it.”

“I’m sure he took that well,” I said sarcastically.

“He threatened to start sharpening stakes with my name on them…as if a pathetic shifter actually stood a chance against me. At any rate, it is taken care of, you may call him when you rise tomorrow.”

I nodded. Ordinarily, I would find his actions very high handed and be annoyed, but really it was the most practical solution. I obviously couldn’t have called Sam, I was buried in my own backyard. Then it occurred to me that he said the day after I was shot.

Eric threw my duffel in the back seat and we climbed in the front and I turned to him. “How long was I buried? I guess I just assumed it was for a day, but the way you talked was like it was more.”

“It takes three days for the full transformation to take place. I laid with you the first day. After that it was just a matter of waiting.”

We were driving now, and I had put on my seatbelt out of habit, but Eric never wore one. I imagine after a thousand years, you’re not too afraid of a car accident. Actually, he was around before cars were invented, and I don’t think seatbelts were even a thing for awhile after they were invented.

“What did you do while you were waiting?”

“Talked to Pam on the phone to get things back in order mostly.”

We were quiet for awhile. I wondered how Pam felt about me being turned, but couldn’t think of how to ask. I was also curious what my relationship with her would be. More importantly, I wondered what my relationship with Eric would be. Yes, we had just had sex, but that had been a moment of bloodlust and passion. I didn’t think that was going to become a normal thing. I hardly thought I could expect to be in any kind of normal, monogamous relationship with him. I know how he was before our brief time together. I started thinking back on the last few days before this abrupt and unexpected change.

I remembered being back at the bar, trying to ignore Bill and Debbie and then Eric and Pam returning with the male witch. And him laughing, saying it was too late.

“Hey, you’re back to yourself, so Pam must have figured out how to reverse the curse, right?”

“Not exactly. Do you remember the man laughing, saying it was too late?”

“Yeah, it was like he was specifically taunting me, which I didn’t understand.”

“Pam got him to tell her what the curse was, and there didn’t seem to be any undoing it. Once he was dead my memories came back, but…it was too late.”

“What was the curse?”

He was quiet for awhile, then finally spoke up, although softly. “I would unknowingly find my heart’s desire. And destroy it.”

I had no idea how to respond to that. Was he saying that I was his heart’s desire? But since he had turned me, he had destroyed what it was he cared about, about me? Since I had no idea what to say, I just watched my surroundings. I’d never really been anywhere in Shreveport except for the area around Fangtasia, so it was all new to me. We ended up driving through an area that was further and further from the city until we pulled up to a driveway with a gate. Eric pulled up to the gate and entered a pass code and the gate swung open. The driveway was more like a private road. We came to another gate that was connected to a fence that encompassed a huge area. He entered another code and this gate swung open and we pulled in to a garage attached to a very large house.

“You live here?” I asked, as he parked the car.

“Yes.”

“Do you get lonely in such a big house by yourself? Or does Pam live here too?”

“Pam has her own home, but I do not get lonely. I have plenty of work to keep busy and it is not difficult to find companionship should I desire it, although I do not bring others here.”

“If I was still a human would you have ever brought me here?”

He got out of the car and grabbed my bag from the backseat, so I followed him.

“Honestly, I do not know. As you know, and you will now understand better why, a vampire’s resting place must be fiercely guarded. I have a maid that comes once a week, but she has been glamoured to never share where my house is. Even if she tried to, she would be unable. My day man receives his instructions from Fangtasia or one of my other businesses. Pam and a very select few others know where I live and would be welcome here.”

Through the large garage which housed his Corvette and a black SUV, there was a door that connected to the house. Everything seemed to open with punching in a long series of numbers rather than keys. I didn’t expect I would ever be here without Eric accompanying me, which was good since I don’t think I would ever be able to remember so many random series of numbers.

The door from the garage led directly into a mudroom/laundry room. I wondered if Eric actually did his own laundry or if his maid did. Considering that during the time he spent at my house he left towels and clothes just lying around most of the time, I had a feeling she took care of that. After that room was a kitchen with a small dining area. The kitchen held very few appliances, just a refrigerator and a microwave, which made sense since vampires don’t need to cook anything, just store blood and reheat it if they’re not dining off a live donor. It did have a nice set up otherwise, loads of counterspace and a big island in the middle. Lack of oven aside, it would have been a great kitchen to bake in. That thought left me feeling sad when I remembered I would never follow my Gran’s recipes for pies or cookies or enjoy them anymore.

Eric continued the tour. The next room was a spacious living area. It had large comfortable looking couches made of a dark leather and thick, plush rugs to soften the hardwood floors. A huge flatscreen TV hung on the wall, beneath which was a cabinet full of movies. He also apparently had all the premium television channels.

There was a huge room dedicated solely to books. He had his own personal library. I spent the most time looking around this room. He had books in every genre, countless languages, all sorts of different ages. It was a book lover’s dream. There were also two very comfortable looking armchairs. I could see myself spending ages in here. Of course, I had no idea how long I would be staying with Eric and I would probably have lots of things I had to do before thinking about how I would spend any free time.

Eric had an office with a top of the line computer, a laptop, and a tablet. He said the laptop and tablet were typically more for fun things, although the laptop also made work more portable for when he didn’t want to sit at his desk. Pam apparently liked to use them to shop online, using Eric’s card.

There were a few bedrooms, all light tight in case someone needed to stay with him. One of them had clearly been designed by Pam; it contained a lot of pastel pink and florals. Despite her black leather getup for work, she was really more of a pastel twinsets kind of gal.

“Which room am I staying in?” I asked.

“You’re staying in my room for now. I need to be able to keep a very close eye on you.”

My first instinct was to be offended. His words and tone implied that I was some wild, untrustworthy thing, but I thought I’d been very rational considering.

“Don’t take it as a personal offense,” he said. “I would be a very poor maker to leave a brand new vampire to her own devices. Your instincts and behavior are all going to be different than they were just a few days ago. It is my responsibility to make sure you are taken care of and that you don’t do anything dangerous, to yourself or anyone else.”

I wanted to argue that I wasn’t a danger to anyone, but I hadn’t been around anyone other than Eric yet. And I hadn’t exactly been in control with him, so even though my feathers were still ruffled, I could understand his reasoning. I realized that I was extremely hungry again.

“Eric?” I asked timidly. “Do you have any more blood?”

“Of course! I’m so sorry, it’s been a long time since I made Pam, I forgot how hungry newborns are.”

I followed him back to the kitchen and he heated me up two more bags.

“Tomorrow we will be going to Fangtasia to register you and introduce you to a few people. You will need to make sure you are completely full before we go and you will not be permitted out on the main floor right away, absolutely not without me accompanying you. Do you understand why?”

“Because we don’t know how I will respond to humans or behave around them?”

He nodded.

“I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about. I don’t even want to feed from a person.”

“You say that now, but you may feel very differently about it if given the opportunity. I will take no chances.”

I drank down the rest of the blood, and a thought from earlier came up.

“Um, I don’t know how much these bags of blood cost, but I have a feeling Sam is going to cut my hours, if not fire me. I don’t know how I’m going to pay for it.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why would you be paying for it?”

I was surprised. “Well, I’ve always bought my own food and things I needed since I was an adult. It’s not like it’s free.”

“You have no need to worry about finances. I will be purchasing anything you need, or even want.”

“But-“ I began to protest, but he cut me off.

“Would you expect a human child to take care of themselves, or would you expect their parents to take care of all their needs?”

“Well, their parents obviously, but that’s different.”

“Not so different as you may think. I know that as a human, you were an adult, completely capable of taking care of yourself, but you are not a human anymore. You are a vampire. You have been reborn as something different and you need care just as a human child would. I am your maker, you are my child. Anything you need, I will provide.”

I wanted to argue because I was so used to arguing and not accepting handouts, but his points made sense. I felt tears running down my face. I hated how everything was changing and I couldn’t even be my own person anymore. I hated that he had reminded me so bluntly that I wasn’t a human anymore. I wiped my tears and saw blood all over my hands. For a moment, I was about to panic, but then I remembered that I wouldn’t cry normal tears anymore, but instead blood. This just made me cry harder.

Eric scooped me up and carried me to the bathroom. It was the only room I hadn’t seen yet apart from Eric’s bedroom. It held a shower, an enormous tub, and a sink with a vanity. There was no toilet, but I guess like a stove, it was entirely unnecessary in this house.

Eric began filling the tub with warm water and stripped me down and placed me in the tub. I don’t know if it was because I’d been naked around him so many times already, or becoming a vampire, but being in the buff was far less uncomfortable than it had once been. He poured shampoo into his hands and washed my hair, then applied conditioner, and washed me as I tried to calm myself down. He gently wiped the blood from my cheeks and placed ginger kisses there instead.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“For what?”

“For being so emotional, and you having to clean me up because I’m such a mess.”

“I told you before Sookie, it would be far more disturbing for you to be taking this in without any amount of outburst.”

“Was Pam as emotional as me when you turned her?”

“Pam was far more shocked. Of course, back then, nobody even knew vampires existed. She adapted very quickly however. She loved the freedom being a vampire provided. She hated all the restrictions she’d had as a human, especially as a female. You know her, she loves being vampire. Hopefully with time, you will too.”

He drained the tub and wrapped me in a big, fluffy towel. I followed him into the last room. It had a security system in front of it, but instead of a series of numbers, this one required a fingerprint. He took my hand and placed my index finger on it, programming it into the system. He said that way, if for any reason he wasn’t with me before dawn I could get in and be safe. He also explained that this room was fire proof and impenetrable, so even if things went to shit outside and to the rest of the house, we were safe in there.

There was only one small lamp in his room, and it wasn’t really necessary due to our enhanced vision. He opened a closet and pulled out one of his tshirts and handed it to me. I pulled it on and it was basically a dress on me, given our height difference. He pointed to the bed and I climbed in. Dawn was still an hour or so away, but I was emotionally drained and laying down and snuggling into this wonderfully comfortable bed and plush blankets was very nice. He told me he would be back in a moment, then returned within seconds, this time with his laptop.

“How did you do that so fast?” I asked, then laughed. “Duh, vamp speed. I look forward to trying that out.”

He smiled, then settled onto the bed next to me. He said he had a bit of work to catch up on before dawn. We stayed there in comfortable silence for awhile and then the sun must have risen, because I was more tired than I had ever been and I fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

I awoke the next night completely awake, no weird grogginess or adjustment. Just one minute I was asleep and the next I was awake. This was a nice part of my new change at least. I sat up, and Eric was already there, handing me a bag of heated blood.

“Thanks,” I said, gulping it down. “How are you up already?”

He opened his closet and fished around for an outfit, settling on a very classic Eric look- black jeans, black tank top.

“The older we get, the later we can resist the sun, and the sooner we can rise. The whole house is light proof, so I am able to get up and do things before the sun is fully set.” He tossed me another bag of blood and his cell phone. “Eat, and then if you wish to contact Sam you may.”

I gratefully accepted both. “Thanks.”

Eric walked out of the room and left me to make the call on my own. I was very nervous about talking to Sam. I knew he would not like what I had to tell him, and even though he was my boss, he’d been a good friend as well and I didn’t want to lose him. However, I knew he was worried about me and it wasn’t fair to him to keep him waiting to know what happened just because I was a scaredy cat.

I dialed the number and listened to the ring. I knew it would be the dinner rush, so I felt bad about calling at this time, but it had to be done. After several rings, someone picked up.

“Merlotte’s.”

“Hey Sam. It’s Sookie.”

“Sookie, thank God. Are you ok?”

“Um… kind of?”

He was silent for a moment. “What do you mean, kind of? What did that fanger do to you?”

“Well, so the other night, Debbie Pelt, Alcide’s girlfriend, do you know her? She had been at a meeting with the other Shreveport supes and vamps, and she really hated me because she thought I was stealing Alcide from her, and then he abjured her when he found out some of the really horrible stuff she’d done…” I was rambling. I was nervous about telling him, and it was weird trying to recount my own death to someone. “Anyway, she uh, came to my house and shot me. In the chest.”

“Oh my god! How are you still alive?”

“Well, that’s the thing…I wouldn’t be. I mean, I’m kind of not. The only way to save me was…to turn me?”

“Turn you? …That fucker turned you into a vampire? I’m going to kill him.”

“Sam…would you rather me be a vampire or dead?”

“What?”

“Well you talk and act like vampires are so horrible, but the alternative was death, and frankly as difficult as this transition is, I prefer it to my life completely ending so violently and abruptly.”

He sighed, and I could imagine him running his hands through his hair the way he always did when he was frustrated.

“Alright, well, thanks for letting me know I guess.”

“Thanks for letting me know? Not even gee, Sook, I sure am glad you’re not finally and truly dead? What the fuck, Sam? I thought you were my friend.”

“What do you want me to say? You just had to get involved with those fucking fangers and you got yourself killed!”

I could feel my tempter skyrocketing, and my fangs popped down in response. It was a good thing we were having this conversation over the phone and not in person, because my instincts were telling me to hurt something or someone.

“Those ‘fucking fangers’ saved my life you asshole. It was a shifter that killed me. Yeah, one of your kind did that!”

“But if you’d never gotten involved with them to begin with, you’d have never met her and this never would have happened.”

I tried to steady myself by taking a deep breath, but it did nothing since I no longer needed to breathe. “Yup, I could have just been poor pathetic, lonely, Crazy Sookie for the rest of my life. Because I was so much happier then.”

“Your gran would still be alive if you hadn’t gotten involved with them…” he muttered under his breath, but I heard him perfectly clearly. If he had actually slapped me it would have hurt less.

“Fuck you.” I growled and crushed the phone in my hand.

Eric walked back into the room. I knew he had heard everything, but at least he’d given me the illusion of privacy. I looked down at my hand, at his phone that I had crushed.

“Oh no. I’m so sorry. I’m not used to being strong.”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t my main phone. I figured things would get emotional. I’m sorry he couldn’t accept you. He’s sometimes very unwelcoming to the supernatural world, despite being part of it himself.” He eyed me for a moment, then said,“Alright, time to get dressed. We’ve got a busy night ahead.”

I got up and rummaged through my bag. Nothing seemed appropriate to wear to Fangtasia, even if I wasn’t going to be around the general public, but I settled on jeans and a fuzzy blue sweater. I pulled my hair into a high ponytail and applied some light makeup. My skin was paler now, the tan I always strived to maintain gone, but at least my blemishes were also gone. I didn’t need foundation anymore, so I just applied some eyeshadow, mascara, and a little lip gloss.

I walked into the kitchen and Eric was standing there, looking gorgeous as always. He handed me another bag of blood, and I protested since I’d already had two, but he insisted I drink more to make sure I was as under control as possible.

“If you get out of control, I will have to use my maker’s command on you, and I really don’t want to do that. I know how important your free will is to you. I will only use it in an urgent situation.”

I nodded and drank it down. I appreciated that he wasn’t looking for absolute control of me. I know some makers abuse their power and force their progeny to do some really awful things. After I was finished, we headed back out into the garage and got in the car to head to Fangtasia.

We pulled in and parked in the employee section. The club had just opened and there was already a line to get in. Although there were people that hated vampires, there were at least as many who desperately wanted to spend time with one, be bitten by one, or become one.

We went in through the back door that was for employees only and down the hall to Eric’s office. He sat down at his desk and gestured for me to sit in the chair in front of him. He typed some things into his computer and then declared me registered in area 5 as a vampire. That was a lot less than I expected. I thought I was going to have to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork and told him so. He said that everything was digital now because it was quicker.

“So who knows that I’m a vampire now that I’m registered?”

“The queen, she needs to know who is under her regime. The human government wanted us to have to register to them, but how would they enforce that? Most of them can’t even tell that we are vampire if we don’t want them to know.”

For some reason, having the queen know about me left me with an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was just the idea of a stranger having so much information about me while I knew basically nothing about them.

A few moments later, Pam burst into the office with a big smile on her face.

“Hello sister!” she said cheerfully, and pulled me from the chair and into a hug.

I was surprised by her enthusiastic greeting. “Hi, sister?”

She held me by the hands and stood a bit away, taking in my appearance. “You were my favorite breather, but this is nice too. Although we definitely need to take you on a shopping spree for new clothes.”

I looked down at myself. I didn’t see what was wrong with my outfit, but Pam is the fashionista.

“Sorry, I’m still stuck on the sister thing?”

“Of course!” She said, “Since Eric is my maker and yours, I’m like your big sister now.”

“She’s had a bit more time to process things than you have,” Eric responded with amusement.

I was just glad she was taking it so well.

It suddenly occurred to me that the usual headache I get in Fangtasia was missing.

“Hey, I just realized that I don’t hear everyone’s thoughts!” I blurted.

Both Pam and Eric’s gazes narrowed on me.

“I hadn’t even thought about how the transformation may affect your gift,” he said thoughtfully. “Are you unable to hear them, or is it just easier to block them and you’ve been doing it without trying?”

I focused, and realized that I was indeed holding up my shields without effort. I carefully lowered them and at first it was like turning on a hundred radios at full volume, but within a minute or two I was able to refocus. I could now tune out thoughts and single out individual brains.

“Cool,” I breathed.

“What’s cool?” Eric asked.

I explained what I had just learned. He seemed pleased that I had maintained my ability, even more so how much more control I had over it.

“And are vampires still a blank spot to you?” he asked.

I nodded, as I’d been able to identify and locate four blank spots in the bar when I’d reached out to test my hearing.

“Excellent,” he said. “You may develop other abilities over time as well.”

“If you can fly, I’m going to be pissed.” Pam said.

“She’s still upset that she did not inherit that ability from me,” he chuckled.

“Are most abilities passed down from makers to their children?” I asked.

“Not necessarily. Some are, but many develop entirely different skills than their makers. Flying is actually quite uncommon.”

He was explaining some of the more common things, as well as the things all vampires could do such as super speed, strength, enhanced vision and hearing, when the door burst open again. Although this time, I was significantly less pleased to see the vampire who had entered.

“Sweetheart, I’m so glad you are ok!”

“Bill, I’m pretty sure Sookie has already made her feelings about you perfectly clear, or do you not recall her last words to you? Also, I do not believe I invited you into my office. In the future, you will knock and await an invitation.”

“She was not in her right mind. Sookie belongs with me. We all know it. Release your hold over her so that I can properly care for her.”

All my previous interactions with Bill were replaying themselves with perfectly clarity in my mind. His possessiveness, how he insisted that Eric was evil, how he tried to keep me away from other vampires. And suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to me.

“Bill, did you set Debbie up to shoot me so that you could try to turn me yourself?”

Eric and Pam looked surprised, Bill looked horrified. Or at least tried to.

“Of course not! How could you think such a thing?”

“I’m just trying to understand your insistence that we belong together, instead of moving on. Especially considering you were the one to end things between us to begin with when you lied to me and went back to Lorena.”

“I told you, I had to obey her!” He was seeming alarmingly unsettled the more I pressed.

“Debbie was as good as dead already, all you would have had to do was give her a tiny bit of encouragement to kill me, but then you could swoop in and be the hero and tie me to you for eternity. You hadn’t counted on me not coming all the way out and then refusing to let you in, had you?”

He fumbled, trying to come up with an argument, but just kept denying it, saying that it was crazy to suggest such a thing. I could feel the fury pouring off of Eric, but I was remarkably calm.

“Why did you want me tied to you so desperately? Surely it wasn’t just because of my looks or personality. There are plenty of other women out there more beautiful and entertaining than me…” Then it clicked. “But I have one thing that no one else does, don’t I? But why would my telepathy be so important to you that you would have me killed? Besides, who says it even survived the transition?”

If he could have looked paler, he did.

“That didn’t even occur to you? My god, how stupid and self centered are you?”

“Pamela,” Eric said, “Escort Mr. Compton downstairs, see that he is very _comfortable_ for his stay with us.”

“No! You can’t do this!” Bill yelled. “I’ll tell the queen!”

In the blink of an eye, Eric was in Bill’s face, pinning him to the wall.

“And what exactly do you plan to tell her? And how? If you are chained up, awaiting punishment, you can’t very well tattle, can you Billy boy?”

I don’t think vampires get sick, but I still felt nauseous. Not at the idea of Bill being chained up, let that fucker rot. But because the final puzzle piece was starting to reveal itself and it did not look good.

Pam pulled a pair of pink leather gloves from her purse and silver chains from a cupboard in the office. Eric held Bill and Pam wrapped him in the silver to immobilize him before dragging him down the hall and depositing him in the dank, wet, basement that was apparently to be his cell.

I plopped back down in my chair and Eric sat across from me, staring at me. Then a ding sounded from his computer and he looked at it suspiciously.

“The queen doesn’t usually respond back when I inform her of new vampires…” he growled, a deep and terrifying noise to anyone it was aimed at, I’m sure. “This is what you just figured out, isn’t it?” he asked.

I shrugged, “Maybe, I’m not sure what you’ve just read.”

He read her response aloud to me. “Sheriff, I am delighted to hear of your new child. I look forward to meeting her and hearing if her telepathic abilities survived the transition.” His gaze locked on mine. “I never told her you were telepathic, which means someone else has been reporting to her about you. I think after tonight it is absolutely clear who that was.”

I nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to apologize in advance that my updates may become a bit more irregular. I only have one or two more chapters prewritten, but I’m trying to keep writing so it’s not several weeks between updates.
> 
> Also, want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has liked and left comments on this, it makes me so happy!


	9. Chapter 9

**_Previously_ **

_“The queen doesn’t usually respond back when I inform her of new vampires…” he growled, a deep and terrifying noise to anyone it was aimed at, I’m sure. “This is what you just figured out, isn’t it?” he asked._

_I shrugged, “Maybe, I’m not sure what you’ve just read.”_

_He read her response aloud to me. “Sheriff, I am delighted to hear of your new child. I look forward to meeting her and hearing if her telepathic abilities survived the transition.” His gaze locked on mine. “I never told her you were telepathic, which means someone else has been reporting to her about you. I think after tonight it is absolutely clear who that was.”_

_I nodded._

“How long do you suppose he has been reporting to her about you?” he asked, half to himself and half to me.

Now that I was Eric’s progeny, I had absolutely none of Bill’s blood in my system and I was able to see my past experiences with Bill without his influence. I remembered the first time we had met how interested he was in me, which should have struck me as odd but instead I’d just been so flattered and ecstatic to meet someone whose mind was blank to me. As it turns out, if I’d been able to read his mind, my life would have been drastically different.

When I’d asked Bill to meet me after work the next night he had been late. At the time I had been disappointed, but now thinking back, Bill was never late to anything. He was actually obnoxiously punctual. But he’d been late and I’d been beaten almost to death and he was able to swoop in and save me, consuming my blood as he cleaned me and filling me with his own. He had tied me to him and I was just so naïve and grateful to him for saving me that it never occurred to me that it could have been anything ill-intentioned. Seeing him now, without the Bill blinders on, I imagined that it had all been intentional. He’d probably glamoured the Rattrays into attacking me so that he could get his blood into me. Hell, that first night when they’d tried to drain him, I suspect that even was a ruse. The chains were so thin that he was either pathetically weak to be held down by them, or he was playing along at how severely he was injured in order to get my attention. It had worked. He didn’t succeed in getting his blood into me that night, but I’d revealed my telepathy to him in my sheer joy and shock at finding a mind I couldn’t read. He didn’t seemed shocked that I could read minds, just asked what I was.

“I think he’s been reporting to her all along,” I said. “I don’t know if he somehow had an idea already that I was -if he did, I can’t imagine how- or if it was just my stupidity in revealing it to him the night we met.”

“Well, we could go talk to him and find out.” Eric suggested. “He’s certainly in no position to harm you now.”

I agreed. Bill could try to lie or worm his way out of talking, but there was no harm in trying. We walked down the hall and Eric stopped at a door with a padlock on it. He pulled a key from his pocket and opened the door, revealing a set of stairs. A lot of places in Louisiana don’t have basements because the water table is so high, and I could smell the wet, musty smell coming from down there. Due to my lack of experience with basements (and the horrible experience I’d had in one in Dallas) I was very wary of going down there.

Eric stepped beside me, “It’s ok, come on.”

I walked down with him and he flipped a switch at the bottom that powered a fluorescent bar light. Under the light, Bill was wrapped in silver chains that were attached to loops in the wall so he couldn’t move. He looked up at us and I could read the pain on his face.

“Sookie, don’t let him do this to me,” he pleaded.

I ignored his cry. “How long have you been reporting to the queen about me?” I asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, did you tell her about my telepathy the night we met? Or did she send you to find me?”

He shook his head. “I never told her anything about you,” he insisted.

Then I noticed something. What I had always recognized as a void in vampires was materializing around his head, but it was red, instead of just, a blank spot as I had seen them in my mind.

“Do you see that?” I asked Eric.

“See what?”

“Nevermind.” I knew he would feel my curiosity and excitement, but he was too smart to push it in front of Bill.

“Let’s try again Bill. Did she send you, or did you tell her when you found out that I could read minds?”

“I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he claimed, but as he did, the bubble around his head pulsed and stayed red.

“Liar!” I screamed. I was starting to lose my temper, and I could feel my fangs itching to come down.

Eric stepped up next to me. He’d been allowing me to take the lead, but I could tell he really wanted to hurt Bill to get the information out of him. He reached up on the wall opposite Bill and pulled down a knife.

“Would you rather I question you, instead of Sookie? I’m sure I can be…persuasive.” He said with a wicked grin.

Bill vehemently shook his head “no.”

“Fine,” I said, “we’ll try just yes and no questions, since you seem incapable of giving me a straight answer otherwise. Have you been reporting about me to the queen?”

“No.” he said through clenched teeth. His bubble pulsed red.

“Did she send you to find me?”

“No.” Red pulse.

“Ok, one last one. Did you set me up to get shot by Debbie so you could bind me to you permanently?”

“Of course not!” he cried. Again, his bubble pulsed red.

“Ok, that’s all the time of yours I need to take, fuck you very much.” I said and turned to walk back up the stairs and heard Eric following me.

When we got back into his office I plopped down on the sofa.

“What happened?” He asked, pulling his chair over and sitting across from me.

“I think my telepathy took a new turn,” I said in wonder.

He gestured for me to continue.

“So, you know how y’all come across as a void in my head? When I was talking to Bill, his void turned into a visible bubble around his head. Every time he lied, it would pulse red. It was like, I dunno, a lie detector.”

“Fascinating,” he said and scooted closer to me. “Try it on me. I will tell you two truths and a lie, and you must determine which one is the lie.”

“I know this game. My brother and Tara and I used to play. You were supposed to take a drink of alcohol if you guessed wrong or if the other person guessed your lie correctly. They stopped playing with me though, because I cheated,” I said with a laugh and tapped my forehead.

Eric smiled and thought for a minute before speaking. “I was born as a human in what is now known as Sweden, the first car I owned I built myself, although I love her, Pam is a colossal pain in my ass.”

I laughed. “You didn’t build your own car; that would be beneath you. And I’m telling Pam.”

“Did you see it when I lied?”

“Turns out with you being my maker, I must not need a visual; I felt it when you lied.”

“Interesting. We need another subject that can be trusted with the knowledge that you may be a living lie detector. Pam, come.” He didn’t raise his voice at all; between her super hearing and it being a call from her maker, she was able to respond to him calling her even though she was on the main floor of the bar.

Pam walked in, always looking so casual and bored. “You rang?”

Eric motioned her in and explained our discovery and that we needed her as a test subject. I wasn’t entirely sure if it would work with her or if it would be like with Eric, since we share his blood. It could have also just been some crazy fluke with Bill.

Pam sat down in the other chair and faced me, crossing her legs and looking like a proper lady instead of the sarcastic vampire that she is. She thought for a few moments, then said, “Becoming a vampire is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I firmly believe that shoes are one of the most important part of a girl’s outfit. And I wasn’t into women before I was turned.”

While she was speaking a faint, clear aura had formed around her and it pulsed a light red on her last statement, but I also felt a strange buzzing in my chest, a milder version of what I had felt when Eric had lied.

“You’ve always liked girls.” I said confidently.

She nodded and looked impressed.

“I felt it and saw it when she lied,” I said to Eric. “So I hope neither of you plan on lying to me, because I’ll know. And given the events that have led to this very moment, I will not take kindly to being lied to.”

Eric explained that he had no reason to lie to me, that as I had much to learn yet about being a vampire, it would be harmful to my life, not just my feelings to keep things from me or lie. If I was still human, maybe it would be different since the rules and politics of vampire life aren’t widely known, but I believe he’s always been as truthful with me as he felt was safe, both for himself and those in his retinue. Certainly he was always more forthcoming about things than Bill was.

Pam announced that she was going to go find someone for dinner and stood to leave. “Should I bring back someone for you, sister?”

I felt my fangs come down at the idea of a proper feeding, remembering how good it had felt to bite Eric, and wondering what it would feel like to bite someone else, but I shook my head “no.” I wasn’t ready for that yet, especially given my reaction to Eric and drinking his blood. I was not going to be someone who had sex with their meals. I may not be human anymore, but I still maintain many of the views I had been brought up with. Maybe a hundred years from now I’ll think much more casually about sex, but as of now, I wasn’t interested in sleeping with tons of people, even if I am now immune to STDs and such.

She left, and I turned to Eric, who appeared to be studying me in his silence.

“What are we going to do about Bill? And the Queen? And ohmygod I have to tell Jason what happened to me!”

My mini outburst shook him from whatever he was thinking.

“Bill can stay where he is for now. As for Sophie Anne, I will have to think about it. I’m sure we will be expected to pay her a visit in the near future though. If you’d like, you can call your brother now.”

I looked at the clock he had hanging on the wall. It was only a little after midnight. I could call him, but I didn’t want to tell him over the phone.

“Would it be possible to tell him in person?” I asked. “He’s all the family I have left, I don’t want to tell him something so big over the phone.”

“And do you expect him to handle it better than Merlotte did?”

I shrugged. Jason hadn’t ever been super big on vampires, but he was my brother. Surely he would handle it better than Sam did.

“Do you think it wise to have the first human you interact with to be someone that could cause a strong emotional response?” he pressed.

I shook my head. I’d never forgive myself if I hurt Jason. Then I had an idea. “But what if you used your maker’s command to make sure I wouldn’t hurt him?”

“I will make a compromise. Tonight you will call Jason and set up to speak to him tomorrow and I will make sure that you do not harm him when you meet with him. After you call him, we will go out onto the main floor and ‘hang out’. You need to relax after a very difficult evening, and you can test your reaction to being around humans.”

“That sounds fair,” I quickly agreed.

He gestured to the phone on his desk and I sat in the chair across from the desk. He busied himself with filling out order forms, I’m assuming to give me a tiny semblance of privacy for my phone call. I picked up the phone and dialed his number and listened to it ring several times before he picked up.

“Hello?” He sounded kind of annoyed. I hope I hadn’t interrupted him and a girl.

“Hey Jason, it’s Sookie.”

“What’s up Sook? Kinda late for a phone call.” The annoyance left his voice and was replaced by concern.

“Well, I have something important I need to talk to you about and I was hoping you could meet me at my house tomorrow evening, around 8?” I quickly glanced at Eric to make sure that plan was acceptable. Without looking up from his paperwork, he nodded his head.

“Sure. I could meet you earlier than that though if you want.”

“I’d love to, but I’m tied up in some things before that. Ok, see you then. Sorry for calling so late.”

“No problem sis. I’m always here for you, you know that.”

My heart dared to hope at hearing him say that, that he would be accepting of me and my new life.

“Love you.” I said and hung up before I started to cry.

Eric’s eyes locked on mine. “It’s so different now,” he said quietly. “Even just a few years ago you would have had to completely abandon your family and friends for fear of being discovered. If he accepts you, it will still be very painful, I must warn you. He will age but you will stay exactly the same. Eventually everyone you knew from your human will grow old and die. This is one of the reasons we caution against staying near family. If you really wish to stay around and interact with him I will allow it. Just know that you are setting yourself up for a great deal of pain in the future.”

I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but quickly blinked them away. I’ve never been fond of crying in front of others, much less so now, knowing how messy it would be.

“ Alright,” he said standing and reaching for my hand. “Enough of such serious matters for the night. Let’s go dance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I know it’s been awhile since the last chapter. Life’s craziness and a lack of inspiration have made it hard to write, but I’m trying.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the formatting is kind of weird, some of the paragraphs won't indent for some reason.  
> Hope you're all safe and well!

_“Alright,” he said standing and reaching for my hand. “Enough of such serious matters for the night. Let’s go dance.”_

I gratefully accepted his hand and stood with him and allowed him to lead me out to the main floor of Fangtasia. I don’t know what I expected, but my senses were assaulted the moment we went out there. I remember the first time I had come, with Bill, and being frustrated at how everyone was just thinking about sex. That was preferable to this. My nose was infiltrated by the smells of sweat, fake leather and lust. The first human I looked at was sweating and from several feet away I could see a single drop of sweat running down his face. Everything was so loud too, from the music to conversations, to the sounds of people rubbing against one another. I realized then that I had uncomfortably tightened my grip on Eric’s hand and frozen in place as soon as we had walked in.

Eric leaned down and whispered in my ear, “It will get easier with time. You’ll get used to it.”

I looked up at him and realized this was one of the things that he had meant about how I would react among humans, not so much that he thought I would just start randomly biting them, although I’m sure that is also a concern among the freshly turned. He kissed the top of my head and started walking again and this time I went with him and loosened my death grip on his hand.

He led me out onto the dance floor and while we danced I practiced listening to the people around us without having it be a total onslaught like it used to be. I pictured my shields like metal plates snapping into one another and carefully lowered one, or a small group at a time.

For the most part, my search was as fruitless as it had been the first time I had come here. Lots of people thinking about sex, trying to figure out how to get the attention of a vampire. What was new this time was the amount of women thinking hateful things about me and what could I possibly have that they don’t. One in particular was thinking particularly nasty things about me.

_Ew, what could he possibly see in her? She’s fat and her tits are probably fake. Wonder if that’s even her real hair color? I bet she’s a good lay, most trashy girls are. Can’t imagine what else he could possibly like about her. She’s not even dressed right. What is she thinking coming to a vamp bar and not even knowing how they like to dress?_

I burst out laughing at the last line of her inner, hateful monologue. Eric looked down at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Sorry, it’s just hilarious how little some of the people who come here actually know about vampires.” I nodded my head towards the woman who had been silently hating me. “She thinks the way I’m dressed is offensive because I’m not dressed in black the way vampires like.”

He smiled. “And what else have you discovered?”

“Oh, just that basically everyone here hates me and wants to know what I have that they don’t to have gotten your attention.”

He spun me around and when he brought me back to him he held me closer and whispered into my ear. “If they can’t see it, they are fools.”

We continued dancing for a few more songs. I have always enjoyed dancing, and I’m pretty good at it. Eric snarled at a guy who tried to cut in and dance with me. The guy looked like he was going to pee himself. I listened in to people a few times to see if I picked up any suspicious activity, but it was nice to have it be more of a choice rather than struggling to hold up my shields. I did find one underage person who had used her older sister’s ID to get in, so I told Eric and he had Pam remove the girl and ban her from the premises.

The club was closing, so we went back to his office as he had a few things he had to sign before we could head home.

“Do you like doing paperwork?” I asked him.

He looked at me with a baffled expression. “Why would I enjoy this?” he asked while gesturing to the endless piles of paperwork in front of him.

“I could probably help with some of it. I used to help Sam with order forms and receipts and things. I’m good at organizing and scheduling things.”

“If you want to help, I would certainly not complain, but it is not necessary.”

I shrugged. “I don’t mind it and you’ve got a million other things to do. Plus this way I’d feel like I was earning my keep.”

He locked his eyes on me. “As I told you before, it is my duty to take care of you. You do not need to earn my care.”

His use of the word duty hurt a little bit. I was getting so many mixed signals from him and trying to figure his feelings out but even our bond wasn’t really giving me any insight. He talked about caring for me as though he did it because it was required, but he was also gentle and affectionate. If it hadn’t been for the relationship with “my” Eric right before I was turned things would probably be much more clear.

“I know it’s your duty,” I said quietly. “I just wanted to help.”

He handed me a stack of order forms and receipts and asked me to check them against each other. While I was working on them, he left for a few moments and came back with a couple glasses of blood. He handed one to me and drank the other himself. I accepted it gratefully. After such a crazy night, I was starting to get very hungry.

It wasn’t long before I had completed a few months worth of paperwork and then organized the other piles to make them easier to sort through. Eric had been busy typing and sending faxes the whole time. When he finished and shut down his computer, he seemed very pleased at how much I had accomplished. 

“How would you like to be a manager of the club?”

“What?” I was shocked by the offer.

“You clearly know what you’re doing when it comes to the paperwork side of things. Would you feel comfortable placing orders, creating schedules and training the human waitstaff?”

I smiled. “I would love that!”

“Excellent.” He nodded. “I hate doing paperwork and Pam isn’t tremendously helpful when it comes to some of those things. Alright, let’s head home for the night.”

~~

As we settled in to our bed, I had to ask Eric the question that had been nagging at me since I rose as a vampire.

“Eric?”

“Yes?”

“Other than maker and child, what is our relationship to each other?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…before Debbie shot me we were together in a romantic sense. And we had sex that first night, and you’re very affectionate with me. I’m confused.”

He was quiet for a moment. “My feelings for you are…complicated. Good night Sookie.”

I felt like that was a bullshit copout, but I didn’t feel comfortable pressing the issue so I just snuggled down into the blanket next to him and allowed myself to be pulled to sleep by the dawn.

~~

When I rose the next evening, I was so excited and yet nervous to see Jason that I used vampire speed to get through showering, makeup and dressing. It was actually kind of fun to see how fast I could do things and not sacrifice quality for efficiency. Once I was ready for the day…or night I suppose would be the proper term, I zipped up to the kitchen to get my first meal. Eric was sitting at the counter with his laptop and a glass of blood and when I appeared next to him he smiled.

“Enjoying yourself?” he asked.

Instead of answering I used my new speed to run around the entirety of the house as fast as I could and stopped in front of him again, laughing like a crazy person.

“I’m glad to see you trying out your new abilities. Get yourself some blood, we’ll head out to your old house shortly.”

It was only 6:30 but it takes a bit to get to Bon Temps from Shreveport and I wanted to get there before my brother did, and Eric obviously knew this.

I sat down to have my blood- I poured it into a glass like Eric did; it seemed more civilized than biting into a bag. When I finished, I grabbed both of our glasses and washed them.

“You could have left those for Wanda,” he said.

“I _could_ have, but I’m not going to. I’ve always cleaned up after myself and don’t see any reason to stop now.”

He shrugged.

“Do you have everything you need before we head to your house?”

I ran back to our room and grabbed my purse. “Ready!”

“Would you rather drive, or fly?” He asked.

He gestured for me to follow him out into the yard, so I did. He stood in front of me and told me to test my ability to leave the ground.

“How am I supposed to do that?!”

“Just relax, and focus on the idea of your body lifting off the ground.”

I closed my eyes and thought about floating, imagining myself lifting up into the air.

“Great job! Come on back now.” Eric said, but his voice sounded strangely far away. I opened my eyes and realized that I had levitated up above the house. I started panicking which made me lose focus and I started falling. Before I could even scream, Eric had flown into the air and caught me and set me gently back on the ground.

“It wouldn’t have killed you, but it would have hurt a lot,” he said. “That was very impressive for a first attempt though, I just wanted to see if you could get your feet off the ground. You may have a knack for flying. Pam is going to be so pissed.” He said the last part with a wicked grin.

He scooped me up bridal style and took to the air. At first I kept my eyes clamped shut. Being up in the air didn’t feel very natural to me, but after a few minutes I realized there was no way that he was going to drop me, so I opened my eyes. The night sky was beautiful, so clear and full of stars once we were above the buildings of the city. Flying was faster than driving, even at a somewhat relaxed pace because there was no traffic or roads to stay on, he could just take the most direct path, and before I knew it we were landing on my front porch.

It was comforting and yet strange being back home. I’d only been gone a couple days, but everything was so different. I went inside to see if there was anything I wanted or needed to take with me back to Eric’s, but there wasn’t anything. Seeing all of my things that I had so loved and treasured with my new eyes, I could see the poor quality in comparison with what was at Eric’s, why Pam often scoffed at my clothing choices. I still appreciated all I’d had and what Gran and I had worked so hard for all those years, but I felt much less sentimental attachment than I once had. It was just “stuff.” I know if I was still human I would be desperately trying to return to my home and it was confusing noticing the changes in myself in ways other than just physical matters.

I went back outside and sat on the steps. Eric came over and sat next to me.

“It already feels different, doesn’t it?” He asked quietly.

I nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “The alternative is being truly and finally dead. I prefer this so far.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

I heard the crunch of tires on gravel and knew Jason was coming up the driveway. Suddenly I was much more worried than excited about seeing him. Eric leaned down and whispered in my ear.

“As your maker, I command you not to hurt or threaten your brother, no matter how he reacts tonight.”

I relaxed. “Thank you.”

Jason’s truck pulled up in front of the porch and I stood to greet him. He climbed down and walked over.

“Hey sis, what’s going on?”

Eric stood and walked over to the porch swing, and I walked down the steps to greet Jason.

“Something’s different about you,” he said cautiously. “What’s with the audience?” he gestured to Eric who was watching us closely although giving us a bit of space.

I wasn’t sure where to begin. “You remember a few months ago when I went out of town? I went with someone named Alcide because Bill had been kidnapped and he helped me find him. Well, his ex didn’t like that he was going around town with me and has tried to get me killed on more than one occasion.”

His expression darkened, but he nodded for me to go on.

“Bill is back in town and he didn’t like that I had been seeing someone else.”

“The big guy?” he asked, looking at Eric.

I nodded. “Well, apparently Bill didn’t love me, he just wanted me for my…unusual ability,” I pointed at my head, “and he and Debbie, that’s Alcide’s ex, decided to do something about it. She came to my house and shot me and Bill thought he would save me and I’d get back with him, but I was losing too much blood. Thankfully, Eric was at my house and he saved me. But the only way for him to do that was…to turn me.”

Jason just stared at me while he processed everything. “Fuck!” he finally burst out. He started pacing around the yard. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to kill him!”

“Jase?” I had to get him to focus, and make sure he didn’t mean he was going to go after Eric for turning me. “Who are you going to kill?”

“Bill, who do you think? That fucker thinks he can get my baby sister hurt and not have anything happen to him? I don’t care if he’s a vamp, I’m gonna fucking kill him!”

“So…you’re not mad about Eric turning me?”

“Why would I be mad at the guy that saved you?!”

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Wait, I mean…you guys ain’t gonna eat me, right?”

I just stared at him.

He blushed. “Sorry, I talk without thinking sometimes. So, you’re ok? I mean, apart from having to drink blood and avoid the sun?”

I smiled, “I’m ok if we’re ok.”

He hugged me. “I love you sis. I’m going to miss seeing you more often, but as long as I know you’re safe, that’s all that matters to me.” He released me and walked over to Eric and stuck out his hand. “Thanks man. You saved her, and that means the world to me.” Eric shook his hand, even though vampires normally avoid doing so.

“So what are we going to do about Compton?” Jason asked. That’s my brother, always ready to jump into action. I can’t count the amount of times he got in trouble in school for fighting kids who picked on me. It was nice to see that things hadn’t changed, even if the circumstances were far more severe now.

“Compton has been jailed and as of now is no threat to your sister.”

Jason nodded. “I hope you let that fucker rot in there. Well, you guys need any help with anything, let me know. Not really sure what use I can be, but if you can find one, I’m always here for you Sook. Now I know you’re ok, I’m gonna go meet Hoyt at Merlottes and have a couple drinks.”

I must have made a face at the mention of Merlottes, because he frowned. “What?”

I shook my head. “Sam, didn’t exactly take the news well. I called him last night to explain why I wouldn’t be in to work and he said some nasty things. But whatever, you go relax, I know this was a lot to drop on you.” I pulled him in for one more hug. “Love you. Take care of yourself and say hi to Hoyt for me.”

He said he would and that he loved me too. Then he pointed at Eric, “I can trust you to take care of her, right?”

Eric nodded soberly.

“Alright then. I guess I’ll see y’all later.” He waved and got back into his truck and drove off.

I flopped down on the steps feeling a million times lighter. There was still so much looming overhead but at least I no longer had to worry about things between Jason and me. Eric would figure out what to do about Bill and the Queen and then we could just carry on with our “lives”.


	11. Chapter 11

_I flopped down on the steps feeling a million times lighter. There was still so much looming overhead but at least I no longer had to worry about things between Jason and me. Eric would figure out what to do about Bill and the Queen and then we could just carry on with our “lives”._

Eric had been busy tapping away on his phone since Jason had pulled away. He put his phone away and came over to sit next to me.

“Pam would like to go shopping with you tomorrow. Is that something you would also enjoy?”

I looked up at him. “I’ve never really gone shopping as a fun activity; it’s always been just an as needed thing. I never had the funds for frivolous shopping.”

“Pam adores frivolous shopping and using my funds to do so,” he said with a laugh. “So what I’m asking, if you were not thinking of the financial aspect, would you enjoy shopping with Pam?”

I thought about it for a minute. I enjoy Pam’s company and I would like to get some new, nicer clothes, but it still felt weird using someone else’s money to do that, but before I could vocalize that discomfort, he spoke again.

“I know Pam, she’s going to buy you clothes and accessories whether you go with her or not. Wouldn’t you prefer to have a say in what she gets so that it’s things you’ll actually use and no money is wasted?”

I scowled playfully at him. “You gotta go and use logic against me. Then yes, I guess that could be fun. I could use some nicer things anyway. Your child wearing clothes from Walmart probably doesn’t look very good for you, huh?”

The corner of his lip twitched. “I’ve never minded your clothing choices. In fact, I have quite enjoyed many of them. I’m not like the Queen who demands everyone dress a certain way.”

The beginning of his words had me smiling, but the mention of the Queen had that smile disappearing very quickly.

“What are we going to do, Eric?”

“I’m formulating a plan. In the meantime, I think I will send her little lapdog back to her.”

“You’re going to let Bill go?” I was shocked.

“I want him away from you, and that I haven’t tortured him will be better if he tries to bring a case against me. However, I was well within my rights to imprison him when he conspired with Debbie to bring you harm. Regardless of what mind state I was in at the time, you were under my protection, you were mine, and he had no right to attempt to take you.”

He thought for another moment, then picked up his phone. With my new hearing I was able to hear the whole conversation, which was pretty awesome.

“Hello?”

“Thalia, I will be sending Compton back to the Queen tonight. I want you to follow him and make sure he actually goes.”

“Yes Sheriff.”

Tiny Thalia was one of the vampires I’d not really gotten to know, but everyone in the area knew _of_ her. She had a reputation for her ruthlessness. Her disdain for humans (as well as basically everyone and everything else) was well known. I’d asked Pam once why Thalia stayed in the area if she hated having to spend time “on display” at the bar so much. She explained that she and Eric had mutual respect for one another and that aside from her required appearances at Fangtasia, Eric mostly left her alone. Apparently Thalia had a devoted fan base of young men and women who were either particularly brave or stupid, who were determined to get her to take one of them to bed. To my knowledge, none had succeeded. She just sat in a booth drinking a True Blood and sneering at them when she was on duty.

“Alright, we need to get back to Fangtasia. Is there anything you wish to retrieve from here first?”

I shrugged. Then one thing occurred to me and I ran in to grab it and then rejoined Eric on the porch. When he saw what I had grabbed, he raised an eyebrow.

“Of all the things you could have wanted to keep, you wanted that hideous blanket?”

I hugged the red and orange afghan to my chest. “Gran made it, and it has good memories.”

I had spent countless hours on my couch snuggled under this blanket reading or watching TV, before and after Gran had died. It was also the blanket Eric and I had laid on while we talked and cuddled the second night he had stayed with me while under the witch’s curse.

oOoOoOo

We were standing in that musty, dark basement in front of Bill again. In my rage as a human I had throttled him after he had betrayed and raped me. Now, as a vampire, with clear memory and knowledge of the things he had done to me, I wanted to truly hurt him. I was practically vibrating with it, but I refused to be a slave to my emotions. I would learn to school my features and calm my body. My maker would not be punished or looked down upon for an unruly child.

“Sookie,” Bill pleaded, “Make him let me go.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Since when do the children command their makers? In fact, wasn’t it you, who told me you had to follow Lorena’s orders, that you couldn’t go against your maker? Even if I found it in my heart to want you to be free, it’s not within my power to make it happen.”

Eric stood silently beside me for a moment.

“I’m not going to torture you, Compton.”

For a moment, Bill looked relieved.

“I’m going to send you back to New Orleans. You can ask the Queen if she has a place for you at court or she can reassign you someplace else, but you are no longer welcome in area five. I’ve already contacted her to let her know that you conspired to harm a human under my protection and then further tried to take Sookie away once she was my child. You will be in New Orleans by dawn and you will not return.”

“You don’t have the authority to do that! The Queen will hear of how you silvered me and left me chained up.”

Eric moved so fast that if I was still human, I wouldn’t have seen him break Bill’s nose.

“I absolutely have the authority to ban you from my area. And I have already informed her that I kept you imprisoned in order to protect Sookie from any further plots you may have.”

Any confidence Bill may have had drained from his face at the realization that he couldn’t tattle on Eric.

“Thalia will be following you, so don’t even think about trying to pull anything.” Eric said as he pulled the key from his pocket to release Bill’s chains. Bill just scowled at him. I backed away from them both. I hoped Bill wasn’t stupid enough to try and grab me or anything, but there’s really no way of knowing.

Bill’s skin sizzled where Eric pulled the silver off and the smell was horrifying. A small figure came down the steps and I recognized it as Thalia.

“You may stop at your house to grab whatever you like or get your car and drive. I do not care, just so long as you make no other stops and you report to the Queen by dawn. She is expecting you.”

Bill reluctantly walked up the steps, trailed closely by Thalia.

After they were gone, Eric headed up the stairs. He looked back at me and said, “Go grab a booth, I’ll find Pam and have her sit with you. You can plan out your shopping trip for tomorrow. I have some things I need to do.”

Eric’s usual booth was empty, because everyone knew it was his, so I sat there. One of the waitresses came over and glared at me, so I took the liberty of looking in her brain. There wasn’t much there aside from an obsession with all things vampire, especially Eric. I rolled my eyes at her.

“No one is allowed to sit in the master’s booth,” she said sullenly.

“I don’t think he’ll mind,” I said.

“Listen you fangbanging trash,” she spat, “I know the master very well, and he would not let the likes of you sit in his booth.”

I could feel my fangs pushing at my gums, practically begging to be flashed at this pathetic creature, but instead I just laughed.

She opened her mouth again but was cut off by Pam clearing her throat behind her. The waitress turned around and bowed when she saw Pam. Her tone turned sickly sweet and what I’m sure was an attempt at sultry.

“What can I get for you ma’am?” she asked, “casually” running her fingers down her neck.

Pam flashed her fangs in contempt at the waitress. “For starters, you can apologize to my sister, who is also your new boss.”

The girl turned toward me, eyes wide with horror. “Sister? Boss?”

Because Pam was so much fun, I let my fangs come down and smiled at the waitress. She practically fell down, trying to bow and apologize.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Shawna. Ma’am.” She hurriedly added the ma’am.

“Well, Shawna, I must say, you’re on pretty thin ice. I don’t care if you really were just talking to a customer, it is unacceptable to snap at them like that. You could politely inform them that this booth is reserved for the owner, you could ask them to move, and if they refused, you could seek help from one of the bouncers. But you will not call our customers fangbanging trash, and you absolutely will not make false claims about your relationship with my maker.”

Her mind was replaying all the times she’d tried, and failed, to seduce Eric. “No, I wasn’t saying-“

“Save it. I don’t want to hear your excuses and lies. You’ve got one more chance, act wisely.”

“Yes ma’am,” she said and scurried away.

Pam settled into the booth across from me, a very fangy smile on her face. “Ok, that take charge, accept no shit Sookie was pretty hot.”

I laughed. “So, apparently we are shopping tomorrow?”

“Yes!” she said, rubbing her hands together. “Some of the high end businesses have late night hours and appointments for their vampire clientele.”

I nodded, but sensed movement coming from Eric’s office, so I looked up. He was leaving and speaking in a hushed tone to a beautiful young woman. She was dressed in the traditional club attire, but she was much prettier and curvier than most. I wanted to know what was going on, and I don’t care if that makes me a nosy bitch, so I looked into her head.

What I saw there broke my heart. She was remembering the fun she’d just had with Eric. How he’d had sex with her in several positions around his office and drank her blood. If I was still alive, I would have thrown up. He strolled over to the booth all nonchalant, and asked how his girls were.

Before I could start crying, I used vamp speed to leave the bar and get a moment to collect myself. I leaned against the wall of the back of the building and tried to will the tears away. Logically, I knew I had no right to be jealous. Technically we weren’t in any sort of relationship, but he had to know how I felt about him. To do that right under my nose, knowing I would find out…

In a moment, I was being crushed to the wall. I fought back, but was no match for the one holding me. I looked up and it was Eric. I fought harder because I was angry and hurt.

“Running away and not paying attention to your surroundings was a foolish mistake,” he said, exerting very little effort to hold me still. “Someone could have been waiting out here with a silver net, or a stake, hoping for some unsuspecting vampire. I could have lost you!”

I glared up at him. “What do you care? You could just go play with your new funbag in there!”

He released me, and smiled.

“You’re smiling?! I came out here to be alone because I was hurt and angry, and you think that’s amusing?!”

“Did you peek into someone’s head and see something you didn’t like?” he asked quietly.

“Yes!” I said exasperated.

“It isn’t what you think,” he said.

“How could it be anything else? You fucked her all over your office.”

“I never touched her,” he said. “I merely made her think that I did. Come, we need to go speak somewhere privately.”

I grudgingly followed him back into the office. I inhaled; I could smell the girl’s perfume, but I did not smell blood or sex. Eric pointed at one of his chairs, so I sat down.

“I wanted to test you,” he said.

“What? Why?”

“You were wise to imply to Compton that your gift did not survive the transition. I think that is our best play to keep you out of the Queen’s clutches. If she knows what you can do, especially now that it has evolved, there is no way she will allow you to live your life in peace. She will find a way to ensure you work for her. She might try to bribe you over, or she may try to trick you, there’s no telling. She hasn’t lived as long as she has or ruled so long by being foolish or impulsive. If we go to her and claim that your gift is gone, she is going to test it. She will have her pets think horribly things at you to try and get you to react. We need to train so that you can school your features, strengthen your shields even further, you can show no sign of reaction, no matter what you see or hear. Understand?”

I nodded.

“I did nothing with that girl. She sat on the couch and I answered emails. After a bit I glamoured her to think we’d had sex, but I never touched her.”

I knew he was telling the truth. There was no buzzing feeling in my chest, and through our bond I could feel his sincerety.

“I wanted to see if you would look into her head, and how you would react if you thought that was what happened. For the record, I’ve not touched another woman since the night you found me in your house.”

That did give me comfort. I knew I had no true claim to him, but my feelings for him were very strong and thinking of him with someone else was painful. Obviously, he had a long history with countless women before me, but that wasn’t any of my business. If he was sleeping around still and then sharing a bed with me at night though, I wouldn’t be able to stand that, even if our relationship was no longer sexual. I just hoped whenever he went back to his playboy days that I would have more freedom and would not have to bear witness to it, because my feelings for him were probably not going to lessen any time in the remotely near future. In fact, I feared that they may actually grow stronger.

“When I spoke to the Queen regarding sending Bill back, she requested an audience with us. She wanted it to be this week, but I managed to convince her to give us a few weeks, given how young you are. I wanted a chance for you to acclimate to your new life a bit more. Also,” at this point he looked me straight in the eyes, so I knew something more unpleasant was coming. “You will need to learn to feed from a live human. I know, you don’t want to, but Sophie-Anne will expect you to feed from one of her humans. She always has a pool of young, beautiful donors and she does not like synthetic or bottled blood in her palace. She expects her guests to be grateful for her generosity of sharing her humans.” The look on his face seemed annoyed by this, but I expect at least in the past he had enjoyed her offerings.

Pam knocked on the door and entered without waiting for a response.

“You’re not so great with the etiquette, are you?” I asked her.

She shrugged, “honestly, I was kind of hoping to walk in on you two fucking.”

“Pamela!” he scolded.

She just laughed.

“Well, since you’re both here, I should inform you that in addition to whatever other things you plan on buying tomorrow, you need to shop for appropriate clothing to see the Queen in.”

“What is appropriate for her?” I asked. Eric is usually a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, and Stan Davis dressed like a nerd, so it didn’t really occur to me that she might require something specific.

“Formal. Really you can’t overdress in her opinion. Absolutely no denim, little to no cotton. You’ll need cocktail dresses for ‘dinner hour’ and evening gowns for formal meetings. Pam, pick up a few new suits for me as well.”

“You got it,” she said at the same time I asked, “You’re not coming?”

He shook his head. “You have handled yourself, with the exception of running away tonight, very well. I believe I can trust the two of you together. I will be nearby, just in case of emergency, but I do not expect I will be needed.”

He handed me some order forms and papers to schedule the different wait staff, and we both got to work on our respective duties. When I got to the scheduling, I asked him, “How fond are you of Shawna?”

“Who?” he asked.

“Shawna. The waitress with really straight brown hair, green eyes, fake boobs?”

“Oh, her. She’s obnoxious. I’ve lost count at how many times she has pathetically tried to seduce me. I wouldn’t miss her. Why?”

“Well, that’s good, because I’m probably going to fire her.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for how long it has been since I last posted a chapter. Things have been a bit crazy and I just haven’t had any inspiration to write. I am going to try to do better though; I have no intentions of abandoning this story. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck around and left comments!

I woke up the next day and something felt off. I realized it was because Eric was still asleep. That couldn’t be a good sign. He was obviously alive (or undead) still, because he wasn’t ash, but without movement or breathing I had no way of knowing if he was ok. I figured the best course of action would be to call Pam and have her contact Dr Ludwig or something. Do vampires even get sick? Could someone have poisoned him last night? I had so many thoughts racing through my mind.

I ran to the door, used my fingerprint to get out and relock it behind me and practically flew out to the kitchen. When I got there though, I froze. The house was light tight yes, if the special shutters were down. We hadn’t pulled down the shutters last night after stargazing from inside. There wasn’t anything wrong with Eric; there was something wrong with me.

Sunlight was pouring through the windows and bathing me in its light. Eric was still asleep because the sun was still out. So why was I awake? Why wasn’t I burning? I walked closer to the window, pressed my hand against it and closed my eyes. The sun was calling to me and I hadn’t realized how much I missed it. I didn’t understand what was going on, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I wanted to go out, to feel the sun’s warmth on my skin, but didn’t want to be stupid.

I decided to go out through the garage. If this gift faded or was only safe inside, I could quickly escape back to cover if I had to. For a moment I worried that I should have consulted Eric before trying this, but realized that would have been impossible. And what if this was the only day this gift would present itself? I couldn’t take the chance of wasting it.

I pressed the button inside that lifted the large garage door and saw the sunlight flow inside. Cautiously, I stepped forward until I could feel the sun actually touching my skin. I was so happy I almost cried. When I crawled out of the dirt a few days before, I thought I would never see the sun again. I walked all the way into the yard and spread out my arms and danced in the sun. I felt freer than I ever had before. I walked around the outside of the house and discovered a pool in the backyard. I still wasn’t burning or anything, so I decided to strip my clothes off and jump in the pool.

I swam to the very bottom and just floated around. I didn’t have to worry about breathing, so I could stay under for as long as I wanted. I used to swim with my brother and my friend Tara as a kid but I would often panic about going under the water because I was always afraid I wouldn’t swim back to the surface in time.

After my swim, I let myself just lay out in the sun and soak in the rays. When I could see the sun was starting to lower, I decided I should head in so as not to worry Eric if he woke up and I was missing. I was still so elated that I zoomed into our room and jumped on top of him, waiting impatiently for him to wake. I felt him stir under the blanket and then his eyes flew open. He pulled me down and inhaled my hair.

“You smell of sunlight.”

I just smiled at him.

“What have you done?” His voice was guarded and I wasn’t sure if he was angry or just concerned. I probed at our bond and felt mostly concern, but a little anger.

“When I woke up, you were still asleep. I freaked out and ran out to the kitchen to call Pam because I thought something was wrong with you. It was daylight. And the shutters were up. And I wasn’t burning.”

His eyes narrowed as they stared into mine. “And you went outside. I can smell the chlorine as well as sunlight.”

I nodded. My smile was starting to falter, as I could feel many emotions stirring through him, to quickly for me to latch on to any of them. He grabbed the sides of my head and pulled my face down to his. “That was stupid.”

I bit my lip. I would not allow myself to cry. I was hoping he would be excited with me. But he seemed upset.

“What if you had started to burn? What if someone had seen you?”

“Who could have seen me? You live in the middle of nowhere with insane security.”

“You can never be too cautious, lover.”

I hated how my heart squeezed when he called me lover again.

He sat up and adjusted me over him, the blanket still between us. His hands slid up and down my sides. “You are naked.”

I nodded.

He brought his nose to my neck and inhaled. One of his hands found its way into my hair and fisted it, while the other continued roaming over my body. I knew that if my heart was still beating that it would be pounding in my chest. I was afraid to speak; I didn’t want to kill the moment.

He started peppering little kisses along my neck, my jaw, my cheek. I turned to him and his lips crashed against mine. Eric’s kisses have always been mind-blowing. But as a vampire that doesn’t have to pull away to breathe and could go on endlessly? There aren’t words to describe it. I knew where I wanted this to go, and I’m sure Eric knew what I wanted. I just wanted _him_. But I didn’t know his mind, or his heart. Was this just a reaction to me smelling of the sun once again? A reaction to the fear of me harming myself? Or did he truly want me? Not out of guilt, or responsibility, but love? Or at the very least true affection?

He stopped kissing me and nuzzled his nose against mine. I closed my eyes and took a deep, unneeded breath.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

I pulled back to look at him. “For what?”

“For allowing myself to get carried away again. For some reason around you I have a harder time denying my impulses.”

I frowned at him. “I need to know, how do you feel about me? Can you see yourself in a relationship with me? Or do you see this strictly as a maker-child relationship? I can handle it if that’s all you want, but I can’t handle the mixed signals. If you want me, take me. If you don’t, stop confusing me and let me move on. I’m not so far removed from my human life that I’m able to just casually have sex with someone and not be affected by it. Especially when I’m in love with them.”

At the realization of the words that had just come out, I clapped my hand over my mouth. I was mortified to have blurted out that I was in love with him. I mean, he might have known already, but that’s totally beside the point.

“Sookie, go put some clothes on. I can’t have this conversation with you when your breasts are staring at me like that.”

I scurried off of him and to the closet. Rather than waste time trying to find something of mine, I just grabbed one of his shirts and threw it over my head, then sat back down next to him on the bed.

He looked at me very seriously and after a moment, began speaking. “Since becoming a vampire, I really haven’t had any relationships. The first few centuries were purely survival. Over the years, I have had the occasional consistent bedmate, but it was never anything serious- merely an easy way to find a meal and relief. I not only did not find myself wanting to tie myself to anyone; I found no one that would make me want to expose my true self to them. I did not want to grow attatched to someone only to watch them grow old and die while I lived on, either. The closest thing I’ve ever had to a true relationship is Pam. And though we were lovers for a brief time, we have long since ended that sort of activity and are close as friends as well as maker and child. Apart from my own maker, she is the only one I’ve ever been with long term.

“Then vampires announced our presence and we opened Fangtasia. Suddenly there were men and women throwing themselves at me. I had to make zero effort to bed someone or feed off of them. It was fun for a time, but the novelty wore off and I found myself less and less enticed by them; so many of them are so desperate and pathetic. You know, you’ve seen in their heads what they’re truly like. I was growing so bored with the place and the monotony. And then one day, in walked this small creature who looked and smelled like the sun. Someone who knew what I was and had at least a hint of what I was capable of, and yet was not cowed by me, did not hesitate to argue when she believed I was wrong, or high handed. She turned my world upside down, because for the first time, I found myself caring about what happened to her, even at the extent of my own safety. I actually had feelings again.

“So yes, I could see myself in a relationship with you. Those days hiding in your home, sharing our lives together felt so right. But then that dynamic changed when I brought you over. I don’t want you to feel compelled to be with me because I hold power over you. I know what it’s like to have a maker force you to do things you do not wish for. I know you value your freedom and after what Bill did, I never want you to feel manipulated or abused. I don’t want you to lose your sassy attitude or any part of who you are because of me.”

He stared directly into my eyes, “But I admit that I do very much want you to be mine, for as long as you’ll have me. For the first time, I’ve found someone who makes me want to do more than survive and exist, but to truly live.”

I blinked away tears and smiled. “You dummy. I was already yours. I’ve been yours since the night we lay on the floor in front of the fire. Before that, if I’m being truly honest with myself.”

He smiled back at me.

“But the question I have is, are you mine?”

His mouth crashed against mine again. In between kisses he whispered “I am yours and you are mine.”

I couldn’t keep the tears away this time. He licked them away and kissed me again.

“As much as I want to continue this,” he put my hand against his manhood to show me how much he wanted to go on, “I fear we do not have time tonight. We need to discuss what happened today, and Pam will be here shortly to take you on your shopping trip.”

I nodded soberly.

“So, somehow you are a daywalker. A fantasy of nearly every vampire who has ever existed, and yet, in my thousand years, you are the first I’ve ever met.”

I was shocked. “Do you think maybe it’s my special gift- like how you can fly?”

“Not a chance. That is the tradeoff as a vampire- eternal youth, strength and speed and in exchange we must drink blood, avoid sliver, and give up the sun. No, there is something else going on here.”

I was starting to worry. “So I’m some sort of freak?”

“Not a freak, an anomaly. I’ve actually long wondered if you had some other supernatural blood somewhere down the line. Telepathy isn’t exactly a trait that humans have in common.”

“What do you think I am?” I wanted to argue that I was just a plain old human as I had for years, but even if I hadn’t been odd with my ability, I was no longer actually a human.

“I have a few ideas, but I don’t want to fill your head with wild thoughts until I’m more certain. I am going to contact an old friend who may have some more insight. In the mean time, you will tell no one of what you discovered today, not even Pam. And please, do not venture out again until we know more. I could not bear it if I woke and discovered you had burned up while I slept”

I nodded soberly and gently kissed him. “I promise.”

“Ok, go shower and wash that delicious sunshine smell away. Pam will be here soon.”

Once I was clean, dressed, and had applied some makeup, I went out into the kitchen where I discovered Eric and Pam sitting at the counter, each sipping a blood. Pam slid a glass down the counter toward me and I caught it without even having to think about it. Vampire reflexes are pretty cool.

“Thanks,” I said taking a big drink. Normally when I wake up I’m insanely hungry, but somehow in my crazy day waking, I didn’t feel it until the time I normally would be waking.

“So, here’s what I’m thinking…” Pam started planning out our evening and I mostly just nodded along. She was naming fancy boutiques and designers that I mostly didn’t recognize and the ones I did, I’d never dreamed of seeing in person, let alone seriously shopping for.

Eric announced that we would all travel together and that though Pam and I would go into the stores ourselves, he would stay outside- nearby in case anything should come up, but far enough to give us a sense of freedom. He said that he had some phone calls to make while we were shopping. I wondered if that included the person he was going to talk to about my potential supernatural heritage.

When Pam and I entered the first store, she told me I had to promise her something.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“You are not allowed to look for price tags or ask about the cost of any of the items we are looking for.”

“But-“

“No. I know you and you would be absolutely horrified at the prices. So to ensure that we still enjoy our trip, you need to promise to just look at the clothes and shoes and jewelry and appreciate them without worrying about the cost. Trust me, nothing you could buy tonight is going to hurt Eric’s bank account in the slightest.”

I felt my nose wrinkle because being frivolous with money went so against my upbringing, but I promised.

“Splendid!” She looped her arm through mine and practically skipped through the store. She was grabbing things and throwing them at me, directing workers to take things to fitting rooms, asking for jewelry and shoes to be wrapped up. She was like a crazy tornado of fashion. I wasn’t sure who was happier though, her or the worker who practically had dollar signs flashing in his eyes. They probably work on commission here and it was his lucky night.

It was a good thing we had taken the SUV tonight, because the amount of clothing I was bringing home would not have fit in Eric’s sports car. Pam had a minivan, which probably would have worked, but I couldn’t see Eric allowing himself to be seen in the vehicle. As it is, any vampire in a minivan is entertaining, but then Pam’s true self when not at work was not at all what you would expect of a vampire.

We had gone through several boutiques and I now had enough lingerie to last a month without ever repeating any, several bikinis, quality jeans, sweaters, blouses, dress suits, cocktails dresses, ball gowns, shoes, shoes, and oh, some more shoes. Basically, if an event might occur, I now owned the necessary attire.

Pam was practically orgasmic over the experience. While I enjoyed spending time with her and it really was great to have nice, new clothing; crazy shopping still wasn’t really my idea of fun. Eric greeted us at the car and smiled as we loaded up the back with the help of one of the personal shoppers. He tipped the worker and then we all got in and drove back to Eric’s house.

As we unloaded everything (mine into the house, Pam’s into her own car,) Eric asked if we’d had fun.

“It was amazing,” Pam replied dreamily.

I laughed. “I had fun with Pam. And all I really had to do was try things on when she shoved them at me.”

He glanced sideways at her. “And was she behaved while you changed or did she offer unnecessary help?”

She put a hand to her heart and said dramatically, “Why Eric, you wound me. To suggest I would use the experience to gaze upon our Sookie’s delicious bounty…how dare you?” She almost managed to keep a straight face.

I swatted at her. “She was fine. She only made about 69 inappropriate comments.”

They both looked at me blankly for a second and then I smiled. “It was a joke. She really was fine.”

Her face lit up. “Oh, it was an oral sex joke! Clever!” Then she kissed me on the cheek and left for the evening.

Eric helped me put away all my new purchases. While we were hanging things in the closet, he told me he’d gotten ahold of the person who may have information about my new ability. Apparently it was an old friend of his that could be trusted with this information and hopefully help me, and he was going to meet us here in a few hours.

Suddenly I was very nervous. I wanted answers of course, but sometimes ignorance feels like a safe little bubble. Once we spoke to this person, my world was probably going to turn upside down again.

Eric and I went into the living room to watch TV and relax while we waited. After a little while, there was a loud buzzing sound coming from the wall.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“The intercom.” He went to the wall and pushed a few buttons and a screen appeared that showed a car and a man’s face. “Come on up.” He pushed another button.

“You know how there’s a code to get in through the gate?”

I nodded.

“I don’t give that out to many, so if someone wants to come up they have to press the intercom and wait to be permitted. As I know and was expecting him, I pressed a button that opened the gates, giving him access to the house.”

I was impressed. “Fancy.”

A few moments later, the front doorbell rang. I followed Eric to see who this mystery man was. When the door opened, I saw a beautiful older man standing there. He was tall with long, straight silvery hair, a navy suit with white pinstripes and he held a cane in his hand. He had a few wrinkles, but I got the impression that he was much older than he appeared.

The man’s face broke into a huge smile when he saw Eric. He grasped his hand and clapped him on the shoulder.

“It is good to see you old friend! I am so pleased that you called.”

Eric gestured him inside and the man’s eyes landed on me. I wanted to shrink back because the way this man was examining me made me feel like some substance under a microscope. I opened my mind to him but heard nothing, which was strange. It wasn’t the same kind of blank bubble that a vampire has, and this man was definitely not a vampire. It was more like a radio that was on, but the volume was completely turned off. I’d be able to pick up his mind but not be able to hear a thing if I was trying.

The man walked over to me and gently cupped his hands around my face. His eyes looked both elated and sad.

“My child,” he said softly, “I am so glad to finally meet you.”

I looked at Eric feeling slightly panicked, but he sent me calm and reassurance through our bond.

The man let his hands fall to his sides. “I apologize. My name is Niall, and I am your great-grandfather.”


	13. Chapter 13

The man let his hands fall to his sides. “I apologize. My name is Niall, and I am your great-grandfather.”

I stepped back. “Excuse me?”

He smiled softly, “I suppose I need to backtrack a bit. I am fae, or a fairy. Actually, I am the prince of all the sky fae. There are other factions, such as the water fae, or those who dwell in the forests. Other forms of fae such as brownies, sprites and pixies… but that’s all information for another day. I don’t want to completely overwhelm you right now.”

The look on my face must have shown that I was already feeling overwhelmed, but he continued on.

“Many years ago, I met a beautiful woman named Einin, who bore me twin sons; Fintan and Dermot. As she was human, they are half fairy. My son Fintan is your grandfather.”

“No, my grandfather was Mitchell Stackhouse.”

He looked at me apologetically. “Mitchell was the man you knew as your grandfather, but a childhood illness left him sterile. He and your grandmother very much wanted to have children but they were unable to. Fintan saw Adele hanging laundry one day and was instantly enthralled. He told her he could give her babies. I don’t know all the details, but somehow she must have agreed, because she had two children, your father and your Aunt Linda. None of Fintan’s descendants seem to have the fae spark, apart from being more attractive to potential mates…until you.”

I walked over to one of Eric’s cushy couches and sat down. “I’m sorry, this is just a lot to process. I’m still coming to terms with being a vampire and now you’re telling me I’m also a descendent of a supernatural species I thought only existed in fiction.”

Eric and Niall joined me on the furniture, Eric next to me, Niall on the loveseat facing us.

“Is that why I can read minds?”

Niall shook his head. “No, that is actually not a fairy trait. However, Fintan did have a very good friend who could read minds. I could put the two of you in contact if you’d like.”

“Can you put me in contact with Fintan?”

He shook his head sadly. “Fintan recently passed away. As only a halfling he did not have as long of a lifespan to begin with, and his time spent in the human realm shortened his time even more. There are things such as iron that are very common in the human realm that are very detrimental to our health. We’ve made developments to help protect ourselves, but they did not exist during the majority of his life. I never reached out to you sooner because Fintan wanted his family kept hidden. There are some who are enemies of the sky fae and wouldn’t think twice about wiping out his family to hurt him. I would have kept my distance if Eric hadn’t reached out to me.”

“Niall and I go way back. We’ve aided each other in war many times,” Eric spoke up. “I didn’t actually know he was related to you; I just thought as Prince that he might know if you were part fae. I called him and asked if he knew of any fairies that may have mated in the human realm and through that discussion we realized that you were directly descended from his line. You’re not just fae Sookie, you’re royalty.”

“You guys keep using the word ‘realm’. Is there a different place that the fairies live?”

“Yes, we have our own world on a different plane. We can travel between the realms through portals that are placed throughout the world. One of them happens to be in the woods behind your family home. I believe that is how my son and your grandmother met.”

“So the daywalking…” I asked.

“Yes. I’ve never actually heard of a fairy turned vampire before- if they cannot mask their scent like I can, fairies are quite irresistible to vampires. If a vampire and fairy somehow were to pair up, the vampire would have a very difficult time not completely draining the fairy. Since you are only an eighth fae your scent and blood are very attractive to a vampire but not to a dangerous extent. And there is the magic of a vampire’s blood. I believe that when Eric turned you, his magic ignited your own. Sky fae need the sun and the air.”

I nodded. I’ve always loved the sun- sunbathing was one of my favorite pastimes. Being out in the yard baking in the sun was such a comfort to me.

He continued, “So while it didn’t happen right away, it is probably because your body was still going through so many changes that the fae magic fell to the wayside of your vampire needs. I expect that you will develop more powers as time goes on. I cannot stay away from Fae for long or often because we are on the brink of war, but I will have my granddaughter Claudine check in with you and help you.”

I nodded. There was so much information to take in and I was having a hard time processing everything. Niall walked over to me and knelt in front of me.

“I apologize for dumping so much on you so abruptly. But I would very much like to know you. Please call me anytime I can be of help to you or if you would like to visit with me.”

“I would like that too. I thought all my family was gone except my brother- I’m definitely not going to turn down the chance to develop a relationship with any family I have.” That thought actually made me smile.

“I must go, but I will have Claudine contact you soon.” He kissed me on the cheek, nodded at Eric and then left.

After Niall left, Eric pulled me onto his lap and sat quietly, stroking my hair and absent-mindedly rubbing my back. I love that he could tell I just needed some time to try and process everything I’d just learned. I still had a hard time believing that Gran had had an affair with a fairy; she always seemed like the prime example of Christian values. However, given the events of the last few years, I suppose her having multiple partners wasn’t that absurd, and her sex life didn’t change a thing about the wonderful woman she had been. It’s not like she just outright cheated on my grandfather. If he was sterile, they must have discussed it before she agreed to have relations with Fintan to produce children.

Then there was the knowledge that I was not only part fairy, but of a royal bloodline. The thought almost made me laugh. But the way he spoke meant that the daywalking was not just a freak occurance, but something I would be able to do whenever I wanted. This was very exciting for me, but also very frightening because if other vampires knew what I could do I would likely be experimented on so that they could try and find a way to daywalk themselves.

So there was all of this information to process and there was still the threat of Bill and the Queen looming overhead and I had no idea what we were going to do about them. I knew we had to convince them that my telepathy had not made the transition or I’d never be left alone, but I don’t think it would be as simple as it sounded. Vampires, especially ones as old as she must be, are very calculating. You don’t last centuries, let alone centuries in a position of power without analyzing every situation to its full potential. As Eric had already said, they would test me somehow.

Eric could clearly feel me becoming overwhelmed and stressed out. He leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“I know what will take your mind off all this and help you relax.”

I turned to him to ask what he meant, but then I saw that smirk on his face and felt a smile creep across my own face. He scooped me up and vamp sped off to our bedroom. He was obviously feeling playful because he threw me at the bed. When I should have hit the bed, I instead just abruptly stopped in the air about two feet above it.

Eric climbed on the bed and grabbed my leg to pull me down. He pressed his mouth against mine and murmured, “Impressive, lover.”

I laughed. “I don’t know how or why it happened though.”

“I imagine we will be discovering many more skills of yours in the days to come. But enough talk for now.” He laid me down on the bed and kissed my neck and then slid down my body laying a trail of kisses as he went down. When he was passed my belly button, he tore off my pants and my underwear like they were a piece of paper.

“I liked those pants,” I protested.

“I’ll buy you new ones,” he said against my thigh. Then his mouth was on me and I had no more arguments or even coherent thoughts.

Some time later, we were laying in bed, fully sated and quiet. I now understood what I had referred to as “vampire down time”. It was nice to just kind of check out and decompress for a bit.

Then Eric broke the silence. “Tomorrow night, I am going to teach you to feed. We also need to begin preparing for your meeting with the queen. I will test your shields often and I want to train you to fight.”

I rolled over to look at him. “Do you think all that is really necessary?”

“I would have wanted you to learn how to feed properly and fight regardless, but yes I do believe them necessary to our upcoming trials. As far as testing your shields, let’s just say you can’t be too prepared.”

“Since Niall said I would be safe outside, are you ok with me going out if I am awake during the day?”

He was quiet for a moment. “I hate the idea of you being exposed to the world when I am helpless to protect you should you get into trouble. But I am never going to be able to be out there with you and it’s not fair to deny you something so special, something important to your heritage. Just promise me that before going outside you will reach out with your mind as far as you can, to make sure that no one and nothing is around that could see you, keep your shields down the whole time so you can’t be caught off guard. And absolutely do not leave the property.”

I nodded and snuggled into his side. “I promise.”

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The next day I woke and Eric was asleep next to me again. I reached over to the bedside table and picked up the watch I’d gotten with Pam the day before. It was much fancier than my old one with its broken glass and worn out fake leather band. It looked more like a fancy bracelet with what I assumed were real various gems in the band and diamonds surrounding the actual face. I was curious what time I’d woken since I apparently could not rely on just waking at sunset.

It was only 8 o’clock. The nights are long and the dawn late in the winter, so I’d probably only slept an hour, two at most. If this was going to become normal, I was going to need some hobbies. Before I was turned, I was pretty much always running on fumes. Between shifts at the bar, upkeep on the house, and all the things I had to do with the supes, I didn’t have much down time. I enjoyed reading, but I figured all my newfound free time would be a good chance to try out some other things as well.

I was going to go see what the weather was like and decide from there what to do with my day. If it was overcast or raining I would just stay inside. Especially now that I wasn’t bound to only the nights, I was beginning to appreciate all the things that being a vampire had to offer. For example, sunbathing and swimming in January is not something I would have ever thought to do before. I’d felt the warmth of the sun, but the cold temperatures didn’t affect me. I’d noticed many times vampires being dressed inappropriately for the weather and now it made more sense. I wondered if extreme temperatures, like places that actually froze could affect us at all. Could vampires get frostbite? Would our limbs stop moving at extreme lows? I needed to make a list of questions for Eric.

Before going out of the room, I lowered my shields and once again marveled at how easily I could control them now. I decided to test out my range this time- something I hadn’t really tried before. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind. Nothing in the area around me except Eric’s void. I pushed a bit. The best way to describe it is that there was a vast nothingness, or blackness, and I was searching it for signs of life. I could see a blank area that represented Eric, I pushed my mind to expand the nothingness until I was sure there was no one close on or near the property. And given how much area Eric’s house and yard covered, I felt confident that I was safe.

I had put a few things in Eric’s closet, but Pam had gotten me so many clothes that most of them were in one of the other bedrooms. I put on a pair of jeans and a cashmere sweater. I know cashmere is pretty pricey, but at that moment I couldn’t bring myself to care; it was so soft and cozy.

I left the room, leaving my shields down. It was an overcast, drizzly kind of day- not the kind that I wanted to be outside in. Even if I didn’t feel the cold, there was no sense in getting all wet for nothing. I decided to just wander through the house for a bit. I came upon Eric’s library and decided this was the perfect place to spend an overcast day. I scanned the shelves for awhile before deciding on a book. I ended up grabbing one called Norse Mythology. I know that other cultures and people from different times believed in different gods. Now that I knew about all these different supernatural races, I wondered if maybe the other religions could have been right too. It felt sinful to consider the possibilities of other faiths, but I knew too many things now that didn’t exactly fit into the box of what I’d been brought up to believe.

I allowed myself to get into the book, but kept alert at the same time. At some point during the morning, I heard a car coming. I panicked and zoomed back into the room with Eric. I searched out for the mind and followed it up to the house, and then into the house. I listened to the person’s thoughts and discovered it was a woman. She wasn’t thinking anything ominous, but I couldn’t figure out how she had even gotten into the house. I kept following her brain to figure out what she was doing, but all she was thinking about was her daughter and some sort of high school dance. I was so confused. Eventually, her thoughts brought up cleaning supplies and it finally clicked. This must be Wanda, the house keeper. I still tracked her, to make sure she wasn’t doing anything shady or trying to come into our room. She didn’t seem to even acknowledge that the room was there. She had either been well trained or glamoured to not realized the room was there.

I decided to lay down while I waited for her to leave. She was there for a few hours and I knew the sun would be going down soon, so rather than go back out to the library I decided to see if I could choose to sleep like I did in the morning. I closed my eyes and relaxed and the next thing I knew, Eric was stirring beside me, so I must have slept again for a little bit.

“Did you not wake during the day, lover?” he asked.

“I did, but I had to come back down when your housekeeper got here so I decided just to go back to bed.”

“Being able to sleep at will but not being a slave to sleep during the day will benefit you greatly.”

He pulled me to him and I felt his long, strong body pressed against mine. I had stripped down before getting into bed and was glad I had, or my new sweater would probably have been another victim of his.

Beginning the evening under Eric’s talented fingers, mouth, body, would never get old. He made me feel beautiful and important. The only thing I missed while making love to him was that he didn’t bite me anymore. It seems odd to miss something like that, but I’d only ever been with vampires and it was something I had come to expect and even enjoy. So tonight, while he was inside me and I was so close to going over the edge, I whispered for him to bite me. Without hesitation he did, and it felt like stars exploding- it was even better than I remembered. Eric finished at the same time as I did and because of our bond the orgasms were even better because we could feel each other’s pleasure as well as our own. It was almost overwhelming.

When we had come down from our high and he was laying next to me again, I asked, “Do I taste different than I used to?”

“Different, yes, but somehow even better. Normally vampire blood doesn’t taste like much of anything, but with your fairy magic awakened…I almost wish I hadn’t tasted you because it is going to take all of my will power not to just stay in this bed all night fucking you, biting you, and just rubbing myself all over you. The scent of your arousal and your blood is absolutely intoxicating.”

I smiled. “I’m going to go get cleaned up for work. I couldn’t help but notice that the shower is big enough for two…even if one of them is a very large Viking.” I started walking away and heard him groan behind me.

“Lover, you are going to be the true death of me.”

OoOo  
Once we were finally clean and out of the shower, I stood in front of my closet in the spare room, trying to figure out what to wear. I knew I needed to “look” like a vampire but had no interest in the trailing black gowns or the dominatrix-like getup that Pam usually wears at Fangtasia. I decided on a black dress with lacey sleeves that flared out at the end. The dress came to just above my knees and had a leather corseted waist. Totally vampy but still something I liked.

I curled my hair and pulled half of it up and put on some makeup, darker than I would normally wear, but not too extreme and put on a pair of black heels. Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome. I wouldn’t stick out like I had before, but I didn’t feel like I was wearing a costume either.

I walked out into the kitchen and Eric was heating us up some blood. He turned around and when he saw me, his fangs ran out.

“You like?” I asked, doing a twirl.

“Very much,” he nodded, then handed me a glass. “Remember, I am going to teach you to feed tonight, but I don’t want you going in there hungry either.”

I nodded and finished the contents of my glass. “You know what’s weird? I’m so hungry when the sun goes down, but during the day I’m not at all.”

His brows drew together as he was thinking. “Well, it’s fairy magic that allows you to wake during the day, so I suppose it makes sense that your vampire instincts would be less active. Perhaps Niall or Claudine will be able to explain it when you see them next.”

We arrived at Fangtasia and went in to the office first. The bar wasn’t open to customers yet and there is always work to be done ahead of time to prepare for the evening. Merlotte’s may be a lot different than Fangtasia, but the general aspect of running things was pretty similar.

Once everything was up and running, Eric and I went out to sit in his booth. People pay a lot of money to come to a vampire bar to see vampires, so even Eric had to be on display at times. While we were sitting there, so many men and women came over and offered themselves to him. He completely ignored all of them. It was so frustrating though. I mean, I get it. The man is walking, talking, sex on a stick. But it didn’t mean I liked the way they acted and thought around him. I was also very possessive towards him. I wasn’t fond of vampires and the whole “mine” thing as a human, but I definitely had to work to keep my fangs at bay and not snarl at them that he was mine. Especially since he was the head honcho in the area, that would have made him look bad.

A waitress came over and brought us each a bottle of True Blood. It was Shawna I realized. She better behaved tonight, but I still didn’t like her. I listened to her thoughts and it was mostly just about how much she wished Eric would take her back to her office for some private time. I just glared at her.

_Master won’t take me, but maybe the new boss would be interested?_ _Ooh, she’s kind of scary looking at me like that. I kind of like it._

Then her thoughts drifted to a fantasy of all three of us in Eric’s office.

“Shawna,” I said.

She perked up, “What can I do for you?”

“Go away. You’re hovering and it’s weird. You have customers to take care of.”

Eric let out a bark of a laugh and Shawna scurried away.

“What was she thinking about?” He asked.

“Oh you know, fucking you, me, both of us... I get the impression that she’s not real particular about which vampire she gets so long as she gets one…or more apparently.”

“She may not be particular, but anyone with eyes would be a fool not to want you. Especially looking the way you do tonight.”

If I could still blush, I would have.

“Do you see anyone you’d be interested in feeding from?”

I looked around. Would I rather bite a man or a woman? How was I supposed to just pick someone and decide that I wanted to drink their blood?

“Tell you what, you go back to the office and I will bring a few back to you to choose from.” He offered.

I liked that idea, so I went back and sat at his desk and allowed myself to go into downtime until the door opened and he walked in with three humans in tow. They were all very attractive and did not seem to have desperation rolling off of them the way some of the customers did. One man was short, not much taller than me, had very tan skin and short, almost black hair. The other man was tall, but not as tall as Eric, had paler skin, sandy hair and freckles. The third was a woman who was about the same height as me in my heels. She had lovely chocolate colored hair and had a similar skin tone to mine before I was turned.

“Have any of you consumed any illicit substances tonight?” Eric asked.

The first man said “Of course not!” while the other two shook their heads.

I pointed at the short man and said, “He lies.”

Eric opened the door and shoved him back out, then closed it and looked at the other two.

“They’re good.” I said.

“I imagine you have an idea of why I brought you back here?” he asked them.

“Would you two like to feed from us?” asked the man. He was thinking about how excited he was that a vampire, especially one as beautiful as Eric had taken an interest in him. He was also struggling with his feelings on being attracted to a man. He hoped that I would be the one to bite him so he could deal with one “perversion” at a time. I felt bad for him, but at least his mixed feelings were only toward himself and how he’d been brought up rather than actual distaste toward vampires or homosexuals.

“Actually, I was wondering if either of you would be interested in feeding my new child,” Eric said gesturing to me.

Both of them perked up. The woman had no such aversions to feeling attracted to other women or vampires. Her thoughts indicated that she actually preferred women. I wondered if Pam knew her.

“I will tell you however before we start, that she has not bitten a human before. Are you still interested?”

“It would be an honor,” said the woman.

The man also nodded his head.

“Very well.” Eric grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. He guided me toward the man first. He grabbed the man’s hand and turned the wrist up. “There are many different places that you can bite. Some are more intimate than others. The wrist is the least personal, so let’s try that first.”

He brought the man’s wrist to my mouth. “Lick the vein,” he said quietly, “then when it responds, gently bite down.”

My fangs were pushing into my bottom lip now. I was weirdly excited about trying this now; probably because Eric was right here and I knew he wouldn’t let anything bad happen, and he was allowing it to be more clinical initially.

I took the man’s wrist in my own hands and licked. His skin tasted a bit salty but not unpleasant. The vein rose up under my tongue and I sank my teeth down. It felt incredible. His blood poured into my mouth and it was so much better than the bagged blood I had been drinking. I latched on pulled on the wound, eager to get more, faster.

_Fuck. That feels good. Why does that feel so good? If she keeps going I’m going to cum._

I heard the man’s thoughts, but I kept drinking, until I heard Eric’s voice. “Enough.”

Immediately I released the man’s wrist, licked the wound to seal it and backed away from him. 

“Impressive control,” he said quietly. “Thank you, you may leave.” He said louder to the man.

The woman was still standing in place, with a pleasant smile on her face. Eric beckoned me over to her.

“This time we will try another area.” He gently moved the woman’s hair behind her so that her neck was exposed. “Same method as before, but you will have to be much closer to her.”

I stepped close to her and fumbled a bit, feeling awkward about how to go about being so intimate with someone I didn’t know.

“First time with a woman?” she breathed.

I laughed nervously. “That obvious?”

She smiled. “I’m Lexi.” Then she put her hands around my waist and drew me up against her.

“Sookie,” I responded.

I put my arms around her waist and she moved her hands to my shoulders and tilted her head to the side. I pressed my face against her neck and inhaled. She smelled sweet, almost like cake. I wondered if it was her perfume or just her natural scent. I licked her neck and heard her moan. I bit down gently and drew on the wound. Her blood was even better tasting than the man’s was. I wondered if people’s diets affected the taste of their blood. As I was drinking from her I found myself becoming aroused and pressed her body closer against my own.

“Enough.” Eric’s voice broke through the lustful, bloodthirsty haze.

I regretfully pulled away. “Thank you Lexi.”

Eric led her to the door and thanked her, then turned to me, his eyes fiery. Suddenly I felt embarrassed about my reaction to feeding from Lexi, but it didn’t stop the throbbing in my underwear. Eric sped over to me and roughly began kissing me.

“That was so fucking hot,” he growled out. His hands and his mouth were everywhere. He put me up on his desk, shoved my dress up and ripped my underwear off and thrust himself inside me. I finally understood why feeding and fucking went together. I wouldn’t have sex with my meals, but if I had Eric afterword to take care of my other hunger, I could really come to enjoy properly feeding.

We were mid-frenzy when the door burst open. Pam stood in the doorway watching us.

“Yay!” she said and clapped her hands like an excited child.

“Get out!” Eric and I both shouted.

She squealed in laughter and turned around to leave.

A bit later when we were put back to rights, although I was now underwearless, we went back out to the bar. Unfortunately, my lack of covering caught the attention of too many other vampires who could smell what Eric and I had been up to. They tried to be discreet, but I could see the flair of their nostrils as they inhaled. If Eric caught any of them sniffing, he growled at them. Most of them quickly turned away and looked for their own companion, but a few just laughed. I saw Lexi at the bar getting a drink. She smiled and sauntered over to me.

“Hey, I had a really good time.” She said.

I just smiled. “Thank you, I enjoyed myself too.”

“Would you be interested in coming home with me?”

I bit my lip. I really wasn’t attracted to women, it had just been part of the feeding that turned me on. At least I was pretty sure of that.

“I’m actually committed to someone, but I appreciate the offer.”

“The big guy?” She asked and I saw Eric walking toward us.

“Yeah. But, I bet you and my sister would really like each other.”

“Sister?” she asked.

I grabbed her hand and brought her over to Pam who was sitting at the booth looking bored. When she saw us arrive, she perked up and I could practically see the wheels turning in her head about how to make fun of me for what she’d walked into.

“Who’s your friend?” she practically purred.

“This is Lexi. Lexi, this is Pam. I thought you two would like each other.” Then I leaned down to Pam and whispered in her ear. “Have you ever walked past a bakery? That’s what she smells like.”

Pam’s eyes looked like a cat who was about to cause trouble.

“Lexi was it? Please, sit down with me.”

I stuck my tongue out at Pam and sauntered away, back to the office to work on the schedule.


End file.
